EXCLUSIVE: Police Minister Brent Potter’s deleted Facebook posts, in which he quoted Nazis, praised Vladimir Putin, permitted the casual use of the n-word amongst family members and shared a link to a video about how to “destroy” the Black Lives Matter movement, have called into question recent public statements that he “does not tolerate racism”, amid accusations of its widespread prevalence in the NT Police force.

The posts, recently obtained by the NT Independent, span a period of six years and were accessible until Mr Potter’s social media accounts were deactivated the day he was preselected by Territory Labor to run in the 2022 Fannie Bay by-election.

A number of the posts, confirmed by the NT Independent as Mr Potter’s, appear to have originated from American alt-right news groups, radical conservative pages and other controversial Australian political pages, which were posted before the Labor politician entered NT Parliament in 2022, including one that said it was “time to arrest ultra-orthodox Jews who delay flights”.

The extensive series of posts included a steady stream of other far-right sentiments between 2013 and 2019, which appeared to cease shortly before Mr Potter was employed as an adviser to former deputy chief minister Nicole Manison in 2020.

A political science professor said posts such as Mr Potter’s would be “red flags” for political parties when vetting candidates and questioned how someone who could cause “reputational risks” to the party with controversial social media posts was preselected as a candidate and later promoted to a ministry.

Mr Potter, as Police Minister, last week publicly condemned alleged rampant racism in the NT Police force raised during the coronial inquest by former constable Zach Rolfe, stating that he does “not accept racism” personally and that it “will not be tolerated by myself or my colleagues”.

However, in one post dated August 9, 2015, Mr Potter’s wife and public servant Alexandra Potter, posted a photo directly to Mr Potter’s page of a young African American child with the phrase “Nigga is you serious” in the image, next to a photo of a glass of wine with ice in it.

“When Brent tries to talk me out of having a wine… n**** I’m grown,” she wrote. “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.”

Facebook post from Police Minister Brent Potter’s now deleted page.

That post, which remained on Mr Potter’s personal page for years until it was deleted from public view with others ahead of the by-election, was liked by Mr Potter’s sister-in-law Gabrielle Mappas, former chief minister Natasha Fyles’ chief of staff, who is currently employed as Education Minister Mark Monaghan’s chief of staff.

Mr Potter was hand-picked by Ms Fyles to run in the Fannie Bay electorate following the resignation of Michael Gunner in 2022, after having worked most recently as an adviser in Ms Fyles’s office.

It was not explained if Ms Fyles or the Territory Labor Party were aware of the posts when Ms Fyles made the captain’s pick.

Mr Potter and Police Commissioner Michael Murphy last week ordered an internal investigation into allegations of racism in the police force, including that the NT Police’s elite Territory Response Group held racist annual awards, in which they awarded an improvised Aboriginal weapon that was seized during riots in Wadeye as a trophy to the TRG member with the worst personal hygiene or “most feral behaviour”.

The allegation was made during the coronial inquest into the death of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker, who was killed after being shot three times by Mr Rolfe in November 2019 during a botched arrest in Yuendumu. Mr Rolfe was later acquitted of murder and other charges.

A meme posted by Mr Potter in 2013 featured a photo of a Nazi soldier, which stated: “In the absence of orders go find something and kill it”.

Mr Potter would not say yesterday if the sentiment expressed in the post would compromise his independence when the Coroner hands down her findings into the death of Mr Walker, which is expected to address racist behaviour in the NT Police force and organisational failings that led to Mr Walker’s death.

Racist text messages involving Mr Rolfe and other police members have also dominated the inquest.

Mr Potter served in the Australian Army and has played up his service while in the role of Minister for Veteran’s Affairs, however, his claims of years served has varied from 10 years – according to a candidate bio by the party when he was first preselected in 2022 – to what he claims now is 15 years served.

In October 2016, Mr Potter, while apparently a member of the ADF, shared a link to a discussion by a radical American conservative pundit, entitled, “Ben Shapiro DESTROYS ‘Black Lives Matter’ with SIMPLE LOGIC”.

Mr Potter wrote: “Worth a watch”.

The Black Lives Matter movement was first established in the United States to highlight racial inequality experienced by African Americans, but caught on in other countries including Australia, raising issues of police brutality, the prevalence of racism against First Nations Australians in the criminal justice system and called for an end to racially motivated violence.

Aboriginal Territorians in Yuendumu adopted the movement’s philosophy following the death of Mr Walker in 2019 and staged protests in that community and Alice Springs, promoting the Black Lives Matter message.

Potter says posts were ‘satirical humour’, claims those who aren’t a ‘veteran’ like him wouldn’t understand

Mr Potter shared a Facebook post from “The Australian Tea Party” in 2014, while also presumably in the ADF, which included a picture of Russian president Vladimir Putin celebrating his policy that “Russia does not need minorities; minorities need Russia” and that they would not be granted “special privileges”. It was prefaced with: “This is not a joke”.

On December 31, 2014, Mr Potter shared a link to an online article by an American news outlet, entitled “It’s time to arrest ultra-orthodox Jews who delay flights over seating”, introducing the article by writing, “Wow what a thought”.

Another post on Brent Potter’s deleted Facebook page.

The article, viewed by the NT Independent, discussed ultra-orthodox Jews boarding a plane in the US and refusing to sit next to women as per their religious beliefs, with the author suggesting they should be arrested for delaying a plane.

Mr Potter refused to answer the NT Independent’s questions about the posts yesterday, including if the party was aware of them while vetting him as a candidate in July 2022.

He defended the posts as “satirical” in a statement and said they “do not define my views on any subject”.

“As a Defence veteran, who served 15 years, I used social media as a way to connect with others who have been through similar experiences and that included sharing military-themed cynical and satirical humour that would not be understood by those who haven’t served,” he said in an email.

However, Mr Potter, 36, then claimed: “In my 20s, I, like many people that age, have done things on social media that I regret and I would never do again with the benefit of hindsight”.

Ms Lawler was asked about racism on ABC Radio yesterday morning, stating that “nobody wants to see racism in the Northern Territory or in the police force,” in reference to last week’s explosive allegations at the coronial inquest.

“Most Territorians don’t like that [racism],” she said. “It’s racism not just against Aboriginal people, racism against some of our multi-cultural groups, against Islamics, and as I’ve said, I’ve seen that on social media particularly at times and I think it’s abhorrent, particularly on social media because it’s … cowards, literally, who probably wouldn’t say it to someone’s face but put it on social media.”

Professor Katharine Gelber, head of the School of Political Science at the University of Queensland, said while she could not comment directly on Mr Potter’s posts, it was concerning a political party did not pick up on the “red flags” around comments such as Mr Potter’s.

“Typically, I would not expect a candidate who had engaged in hate speech online, or offline, to win preselection for a political party,” she said.

Prof Gelber added that the Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction in the country that does not have anti-vilification laws that would deter people from vilifying others based on race, including in online comments.

“How a party chooses to respond – whether they respond by appropriately confronting someone who has engaged in hate speech, or by trying to protect the party from the fallout – says a lot about their broader commitment to countering marginalisation and discrimination in the community,” she said.