; Formation In 2014, several people who would later become the UPF attended the
Bendigo mosque protests, opposing the construction of a mosque and Islamic community centre in the Australian regional city of
Bendigo. The United Patriots Front was formed in May 2015 when founding members split from Reclaim Australia, due to a dispute that links to the extreme-right group Australian Defence League were giving an unwanted image of Reclaim Australia. ; 2015 In May, UPF members clashed with anti-racism protesters on the steps of
Richmond Town Hall in Melbourne, when about 70 UPF members were met with a counter-protest of around 300 protesters from the group
Campaign Against Racism and Fascism. Anti-racist protesters chanted "Muslims are welcome, racists are not" and one man from the UPF was charged with weapons offences. The UPF was protesting against an anti-racism forum organised by local councillor
Stephen Jolly of the
Socialist Party. Protesters from Campaign Against Racism and Fascism called the members of UPF Nazis. In June, the group protested
Zaky Mallah's appearance on
Q&A, a television programme, by roasting a pig outside the Melbourne office of the ABC in an apparent attempt to deliberately upset Muslims. On 23 July,
Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton confirmed a firearm was seized in Sydney from a man who was travelling to the rally on 18 July. In August,
Fairfax Media reported that Erikson was under investigation for alleged conversations with an unknown person threatening councillor Stephen Jolly. In September, the group announced that they would contest the Senate at the upcoming 2016 federal election. The group also distributed pamphlets to municipal, state, and federal government figures that attacked the Bendigo mayor. The pamphlet was interpreted as a threat by one official. In October, Blair Cottrell replaced Burgess as chairman of the United Patriots Front. In October, the group beheaded a dummy outside the Bendigo City Council chambers to protest the
2015 Parramatta shooting and approval to construct a mosque in Bendigo. A leader of the local anti-mosque group disassociated from the UPF. They later held a demonstration in Rosalind Park which attracted around 1,000 supporters in conjunction with the World Wide Rally for Humanity, which was a global anti-Islam rally. A Victorian police officer said that most protesters who came to protest in Bendigo travelled from other
Australian states. On the eve of the proposed 10 October rally in Bendigo, the group was belittled by Victorian Premier
Daniel Andrews, who said that most of them "wouldn't be able to spell Bendigo". In November, the group stated its intention to start a political party called Fortitude. However, it failed to sign up the 500 members needed for registration. ;2016 In February, leader Blair Cottrell was mocked after being photographed purchasing a meal from a
halal-certified
fast-food restaurant, despite his vocal opposition to halal certification and support for boycotts of certified businesses and products. On April 1, United Patriots Front was criticised for unfurling banner with the words "Stop the Mosques" at an
Australian Football League match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Football officials condemned the UPF supporters, for action described as being "offensive", "disgusting" and "racist" for their involvement with the banner. On 10 April, the banner was displayed at another Australian Football League game in Perth. The UPF members were removed from the grounds and the banner confiscated. ; 2017 In September 2017, members Blair Cottrell, Neil Erikson and Chris Shortis were found guilty by a magistrate of
inciting contempt against Muslims after they had enacted and made a video of a fake beheading, in order to protest against the building of a mosque in
Bendigo. Each was fined $2,000. On 5 September, UPE members disrupted a meeting of the
City of Yarra council in protest of their decision to
stop referring to January 26 as Australia Day. ;2018 In January, the UPF attempted to arrange vigilante patrols after federal politician
Peter Dutton falsely claimed that people in Melbourne were "scared to go out to restaurants" because of "African gang violence". In August,
News Corp news outlet
Sky News Australia was heavily criticised for providing a platform to Cottrell in a one-on-one discussion about immigration. Sky News reporter
Laura Jayes took offence at his appearance on the program due to the fact that he has expressed admiration for Hitler and claimed to have manipulated women "using violence and terror". She described Cottrell as a "fascist" and an "arsehole". The political editor of Sky News,
David Speers, was also critical of Cottrell's appearance on the show, stating: "I have just arrived back in the country tonight to be met with the understandable outrage over this... as News Director Greg Byrnes says, it was wrong to have this guy on Sky News." Sky News commentator and former Labor Party minister
Craig Emerson resigned in protest after the interview was broadcast, stating that "My father fought Nazis in WWII and was interned in a German POW camp," and that the decision to give Cottrell a platform on Sky News was "another step in a journey to normalising racism & bigotry in our country" During the fallout and criticisms over the interview Cottrell tweeted about raping reporter Laura Jayes, saying via Twitter that "I might as well have raped @ljayes (Sky News political reporter Laura Jayes) on the air, not only would she have been happier with that but the reaction would've been the same." Jayes responded stating that Cottrell is "not just a fascist. He's down right dangerous". Activist groups called on advertisers to pull advertising campaigns off Sky News in the wake of the channel's interview with Cottrell. ;2019 In January 2019, UPF leaders, Erikson and Cottrell, promised to unleash a
Cronulla-style race riot on Melbourne. On 5 January, around 100 far-right protesters turned up at
St Kilda beach to stage a rally and were confronted by about 200 anti-racist protesters and a strong police presence. On the 16th of March, Several UPF members were captured on video assaulting a 17-year-old boy, after the boy crushed an egg on the back of Senator Anning's head while he was speaking at a political meeting in the Melbourne suburb of
Moorabbin. The teenager reportedly egged Anning in response to comments made by the senator about the
Christchurch mosque shootings in
New Zealand, claiming that Muslim immigration had led to the attacks. Anning threw two punches at the boy. Erikson and a number of other UPF members tackled the boy to the ground, putting him in a headlock and repeatedly kicking and punching him. The teenager was arrested and later released pending further inquiries.
Victoria Police said the incident would be being investigated "in its entirety", including Anning's actions. On the 23rd of March, in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attack, it emerged that the alleged perpetrator, Brenton Tarrant, had three years earlier given fulsome praise to Cottrell as a leader of the far-right movements. He made more than 30 comments on the UPF and True Blue Crew Facebook pages, singling out Cottrell for praise and disparaging Erikson and Burgess as "useful idiots". Scott Moerland, a senior figure in the United Patriots Front, contested the
2019 Federal Election running as a candidate for former Queensland senator
Fraser Anning's
Conservative National Party. Anning had previously stated that he would not endorse anyone associated with UPF; however, he had spoken at the UPF rally in January. == Former members ==