Two members of the extreme far-right Greek political party Golden Dawn will arrive in Australia this week to raise money and meet local supporters.

A member of the European parliament, Geor­gios Epi­tideios, and a party organiser, Michalis Gian­nagkonas, will land in Australia “in the coming days” for a series of events in Sydney and Melbourne, Golden Dawn’s Australian representative has confirmed.

Ignatius Gavrilidis said the pair’s trip to Australia – which has been denounced by senior members of the Greek community – would be “a stealth visit, very under the radar”.

He said that Gian­nagkonas and Epi­tideios, a former lieutenant-general in the Greek army, will meet party activists in Sydney at the weekend and in Melbourne next week.

“They’re here to meet their supporters and inform them of what’s going on overseas,” he said. “The truth needs to be told; a lot of people are misinformed.”

Gavrilidis said the ultra-nationalist organisation was also trying to arrange meetings with Greek and Jewish community leaders who had been critical of the party in the past, but would not say if these efforts had been successful.

“We’re hoping people who have been very anti-Golden Dawn will sit privately and ask all the questions that they wish,” he said.

Guardian Australia reported in September that the party’s local supporters were raising money and running food and clothing drives through an unregistered charity named Voithame Tin Ellada (We Are Helping Greeks).

Gavrilidis said at the time the local fundraising was aimed at maintaining the party’s work building support among Greek citizens hit hard by the country’s economic crisis.

VTE was shut down after the report sparked a backlash, but posts advertising a Golden Dawn “Christmas fundraising drive” attached to a Greek bank account continue to circulate on social media.

To enter the country, the two men will have to pass a character test that bans visitors who have “an association with an individual, group or organisation suspected of having been, or being, involved in criminal conduct” or might “incite discord in the Australian community”.

Labor MP Michael Danby said he had asked the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, to “deny them visas”. Morrison’s department has been contacted for comment.

The party has only a handful of supporters in Australia, but has built links to homegrown white nationalist groups, such as the Australia First Party.

Golden Dawn’s entire parliamentary cohort was arrested in police raids last year after an anti-fascist rapper, Pavlos Fyssas, was murdered in September 2013, allegedly by thugs affiliated with the party.

Last month, Greece’s public prosecutor said all 16 parliamentary Golden Dawn members should stand trial for criminal offences, including murder, weapons charges and attacks on immigrants, gay people and political opponents.

The prosecutor’s 700-page report outlined alleged attacks on Egyptian and Pakistani migrant workers and claimed the party’s boss, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, had expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Despite the crackdown, the party made significant gains in European elections in May, capturing 9.4% of the vote and three seats in the Brussels parliament.

An organiser with the Melbourne Anti-Fascist Initiative, Alex Kakafikas, said activists were trying to find out where the Australian events would be held.

“We’re planning something that’s going to let them know their politics aren’t welcome here,” he said.

But representatives of the Greek and Jewish communities denied they had been approached by Golden Dawn.

“The leading organisations of the Australian Greek and Jewish communities are united in the view that Golden Dawn’s hate-filled ideology, and violent methods, have no legitimate place in contemporary Australia,” Peter Wertheim, the head of the executive council of Australian Jewry, said.

“One hopes that the Australian government will not provide Golden Dawn with the opportunity to spread its racist message in our country,” he said.