He served 13 years, one month, and six days in prison from 1989 to 2002 for theft and arson, having robbed and firebombed businesses owned by Asians in Western Australia.
[5] Peter Joseph van Tongeren was born in the Netherlands on 14 December 1947 to a father of Dutch-Javanese descent, Rudi, and an Australian mother, Stella.
[6][7][8] Van Tongeren's involvement with NA led to his running, unsuccessfully, for the Senate in the 1984 election on an independent ticket, attaining just 861 votes (0.11%).
[9] He attempted to gain control of the NA, but when this failed, van Tongeren split from the group and in April 1985 formed his own organisation, the Australian Nationalist Movement (ANM).
[10] There was also an attempt to set up a parallel group to the ANM, called the Australian Aryan Army (AAA), with John van Blitterswyk as the nominal "Commander".
[12] ANM's criminal activity may have commenced in February 1988 when a member of the group's home was arsoned in a failed attempt at insurance fraud.
His first public statement accused the Western Australian premier Geoff Gallop and Attorney General Jim McGinty of pandering to the Asian minority.
He soon formed a successor organisation to the ANM called the Australian Nationalist Worker's Union, and expressed interest in seeking election.
Van Tongeren denied responsibility, instead claiming that the attacks must be the actions of angry Australians reacting against "Asian gangs and African crime."
It was later reported that Van Tongeren instigated the attacks to drum up publicity for his book, The ANM Story, which had been written in 1991 but remained unpublished for thirteen years.
In February 2006, Van Tongeren, out on bail pending his trial, failed to report to police and was believed to be at large and travelling with former ANM member Matthew Billing.
It claimed that charges against him were a conspiracy created by the WA Government, and indicated that they would need to be dropped by Attorney-General Jim McGinty, in order for Van Tongeren to return from hiding.