An influential Catholic college in Sydney is under investigation by the higher education regulator over a series of comments made by two of its prominent academics supporting the White Australia policy and calling for Anglo-Celtic Australians and Europeans to become a "supermajority" in the country.
The federal education minister, Jason Clare, said the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa) was "undertaking a compliance process" with Campion College in relation to a number of comments made by Stephen McInerney, a dean of studies, and Associate Prof Stephen Chavura, a senior lecturer.
"There is no place for racism in higher education or anywhere else in our society," Clare said.
The investigation came after the Sydney Morning Herald reported that McInerney and Chavura promoted white nationalism, prompting Campion to investigate the duo while defending the freedom of speech of its staff members.
This year Chavura established an Anglo-Celtic nationalist group for Australian men in opposition to "leftist thugs", "mass immigration and multiculturalism", but was quoted in the Herald as denying it was sympathetic with Nazism or racism. Last week he said a banner reading "Abolish the Jewish Lobby" at a neo-Nazi rally in Sydney was "political speech" that should be "protected".
Chavura has denied being a white nationalist and called the Herald's reporting an "attempt to strangle a rising new conservative movement in its infancy".
McInerney, a former deputy head of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation who also serves on Campion's academic board and board of trustees, attended the March for Australia rally in Sydney this August, where he warned of a "radical transformation" of Australia caused by "reckless levels of immigration".
On X McInerney describes himself as an "Australian nationalist".
"I love the Commonwealth created by & for White Australians & want my people to flourish in it again," his bio says.
He posted a string of comments on X this month encouraging the public to become "political supporters" of the White Australia party (WAP), which was formed this year by the National Socialist Network, a coalition of neo-Nazis led by Thomas Sewell.
McInerney's comments were directly responding to concerns raised by an Australian federal police acting deputy commissioner, Nigel Ryan, at a parliamentary committee examining the 2025 election over the National Socialist Network's bid to enter politics.
McInerney reiterated to Guardian Australia that the WAP should be free to stand in elections, not because it was the "most ideal answer to our nation's problems" but in the "interests of our democracy and the larger cause of the anti-mass-immigration movement".
He described himself as an "ethno-religious nationalist" but said he did not espouse personal political views in class and they formed "no part" of his curriculum, while adding he would be "happy to explain or clarify my views" outside the college.
"Whether or not I would vote for the White Australia Party would depend on what other parties were running. Ideally, I'd rather vote for a pro-White and explicitly pro-Christian party," he said.
"I believe European peoples should have their own homelands, like every other race, where they are unquestioned super majorities, and that it is legitimate for them to organise politically to preserve or achieve that reality," he said.
He said his "ideological disagreements with National Socialism are a matter of the public record".
Chauvra has also reiterated his views, writing on X that "Anglo-Celtic" people should be the "overwhelming demographic majority" in Australia. "Yes, it is an ethnic conception of the Australian nation and culture," he wrote on Wednesday.
Campion, a small private institution in western Sydney, was founded in 2006 and offers degrees in history, literature, philosophy and theology at the "heart of the Western intellectual tradition".
Its academic freedom policy permits staff to "include content in their teaching that may offend or shock any student or class of students".
The college president, Paul Morrissey, did not respond to a request for comment, including on the outcome of the investigation, but earlier told the Herald the comments by Chavura and McInerney referred to in its reporting had been made in a personal capacity and there was no evidence either had treated students unfairly.
He told the Herald the college affirmed "the dignity of every human person, regardless of their race and religion" and that it believed in academic freedom, freedom of speech and robust debate.
"A commitment to freedom of speech is meaningless if it doesn't extend to people who say unpopular or even, to some, offensive things," Morrissey was quoted as saying.
Despite its size, Campion has powerful backers. Members of its board of trustees include Joseph de Bruyn, who came under fire last year for comparing abortion to the "human toll of world war two" at an Australian Catholic University graduation ceremony, and the former Liberal minister Zed Seselja.
De Bruyn and Seselja did not respond to requests for comment.
This year the college unveiled a grand hall named after the late cardinal George Pell. The former Liberal prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, both longtime supporters of the college, spoke at the event.
Howard declined to comment on McInerney's public remarks. "I maintain my respect for Campion College," he said. Abbott did not respond to a request for comment.
Campion received $5m in federal government funding under the former Coalition government as part of its $20m capital works appeal, and an additional $5m from the state government towards infrastructure between 2021 and 2024.
A spokesperson for Teqsa said the compliance processes related to the "extent to which Campion is meeting its obligations under the Higher Education Standards Framework (2021) in relation to matters that have been publicly reported". They did not confirm which parts of the framework were in question.
The chief executive of Teqsa, Mary Russell, told a Senate inquiry into higher education governance last week the body had requested answers on how the college was responding to "safety, wellbeing, discrimination and inclusion".
"If we felt that they were not compliant and there were evidence of that, we would consider taking action in the form of conditions or other requirements," she said.
The deputy Greens leader and higher education spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, has been a subject of McInerney's posts. She said: "There should be no place for white supremacy and white nationalism in higher education," she said. "It is shocking that public funding has been provided to this college."