Nazi symbols will soon be banned from public spaces in Australia, where far-right groups are gaining ground and posing a threat of extremist attacks, according to a legal source.
A bill will be tabled in parliament next week and is likely to pass as opposition parties support the initiative.
This law will prohibit the display and sale of Nazi insignia such as the swastika or the SS symbol,” Attorney General Marc Dreyfus said.
“There is no place in Australia for symbols glorifying the horrors of the Holocaust,” Dreyfus said, adding: “We will no longer allow anyone to profit from the display and sale of memorabilia celebrating the Nazis and their perverse ideology.”
The Australian Council for Jewish Affairs welcomed the move, saying it was welcome “at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world.”
In recent years, many Australians have joined neo-Nazi groups that are stepping up their efforts to recruit new members, according to Australian intelligence.
According to Australia’s national security agency, people associated with the far right are currently involved in 30% of the country’s counterterrorism cases.
For Mike Burgess, director general of the national information agency, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization (ASIO), “when it comes to neo-Nazis, what worries people who allow themselves to be indoctrinated by this ideology and who are take advantage of the lack of measures”.
“Because these people then take action,” he continues.
As an example, see the 2019 Christchurch attack in New Zealand, Australia’s neighbor, when an Australian-born white supremacist opened fire on two mosques, killing 51 people and injuring 40.
Australia’s two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, have already restricted the display of Nazi symbols in public spaces.
This new national ban does not apply to Nazi symbols used for artistic or educational purposes. Nor does it apply to the swastika, a religious symbol widely used in Hinduism and Buddhism, whose shape is reminiscent of the Nazi swastika.
Source: TSF
