Social media users are falsely claiming a video shows One Nation leader Pauling Hanson embracing neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell.

The claims stem from a video posted from an April 2026 anti-immigration rally in which Hanson took to the stage to hug the man.

Sewell is a self-described Hitler fan who faces multiple charges over his alleged involvement in a violent attack on an Indigenous camp at Melbourne’s King’s Domain in August 2025.

But the man on stage at the April 26 anti-immigration rally was not Sewell. It was Ben Shand, who also goes by the moniker “Dusty Bogan”.

Several social media posts misidentified Shand. 

A Threads post linking to a Seven Network news report about the event commented: “Pauline Hanson jogs up the stairs of the Canberra rally and into the joyful arms of neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell”.

Similar false claims appeared on Facebook and X.

The Seven report included a shot of Hanson walking onto the stage and hugging a man wearing a navy shirt. The man was not identified in the report.

However, in a livestream of the event posted to YouTube, the man in question identifies himself as “Dusty Bogan”.

“I’m the Dusty Bogan, right? That’s my name,” he says in the livestream .

Nationals leader Senator Matt Canavan, who spoke at the rally, also referred to the man as “Dusty” before giving his speech.

Shand’s on-stage embrace with Hanson was also captured in the livestream. 

Despite not being Sewell, Shand has not been immune to controversy of his own.

Shand is a former member of the far-right Proud Boys group who describes himself on his YouTube account as “Australia’s true-bluest New Zealander”. 

In July 2024, the Courier-Mail reported that Shand caused a security scare after gaining unauthorised access to a Queensland Labor Party event attended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

-AAP