Jim Saleam

James Ernest “Jim” Saleam Jr. (; born 18 September 1955) is an Australian politician, academic, and far-right activist, currently serving as the chairman of the Australia First Party. He came to prominence after founding National Action, a militant white nationalist organization active in Sydney during the 1980s.

The son of Lebanese immigrants to Australia, Saleam attended Maryborough State High School, where he developed his interest in politics and nationalism. By 1970, he joined the National Socialist Party of Australia and two years later he was arrested for the fire-bombing of a Maoist bookshop.

Despite these setbacks, he continued to promote his nationalist ideology. In the late 1990s, after serving time in prison, Saleam obtained both an MA and PhD from the University of Sydney by writing two theses on the far-right in America and Australia. His grandfather, George Saleam, was born in Lebanon and fled his country at age 16, boarding a ship bound for Australia. His sentence banned him from having any association with the NSPA.

On Anzac Day 1982, he co-founded National Action (NA), which eventually collapsed due to Saleam's convictions for property offences and fraud in 1984, possession of a prohibited article - a large nail-studded club in 1985, and for organising a shotgun attack in 1989 on African National Congress Australian representative Eddie Funde, for which he served three and a half years in prison. and has been seen associating with neo-Nazi skinheads. In 2004, Saleam contested the NSW local government elections, and ran for Marrickville Council on an anti-refugee platform. In 2012, he ran for NSW local government election in the City of Blue Mountains.

Australia First Party Saleam was the Secretary of the Sydney branch of the Australia First Party (AFP) between 2002 and 2007, when he became its chairman, and sought to re-establish the party. In July 2009, he announced that it had reached its target of 500 members and was registering the New South Wales branch party with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). The party was reregistered in mid-2010, in time to contest the 2010 federal election.

AFP contested the 2013 federal election, Saleam standing in the seat of Cook on a platform to end refugee intakes, running against Scott Morrison. He received 617 votes, or 0.67% of the vote.

On 14 July 2015, the AEC deregistered the AFP due to its failure to demonstrate the required number of members. It was reregistered on 1 March 2016 as "Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated".

Saleam stood at the 2016 federal election in the seat of Lindsay and received 1068 votes or 1.2% of the vote. He stood for AFP in the 2018 Longman by-election, receiving 709 votes or 0.8% of the vote.

Saleam stood in the seat of Cootamundra, New South Wales, in the 2017 by-election as an independent, though still a member of Australia First, as the party is not registered for state elections. He received 453 votes, 1% of the total. He again stood in the seat at the 2019 New South Wales state election as an independent, receiving 0.95% of the vote. Saleam's platform included the reintroduction of the White Australia policy and opposition to Chinese immigration.

Saleam stood at the 2019 federal election and the 2025 federal election in the seat of Lindsay and received 1,372 votes or 1.41% of the vote in 2019 and 1,103 or 1.13% of the vote in 2025.

Personal life Saleam married Jane Mengler in 1987. They had two children and divorced in 1994.