ASIO backs federal push to ban Nazi symbolism
Australia’s spy agency says a proposed bill outlawing Nazi symbols could help stop extremist radicalisation and recruitment.
Federal shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash introduced the bill last month following a protest in Melbourne which drew neo-Nazis, who used the sieg heil salute.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation says nationalist and racist violent extremists adopt specific imagery and terminology to signal their ideology, build belonging and provoke opponents.
ASIO believes extremists are currently more focused on trying to attract new members rather than planning an attack and the legislation would help stop that.
“(The bill) would assist law enforcement in early intervention,” the agency said in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry.
The Buddhist Council of Western Australia supports the move but wants a clause stating “to avoid doubt, the display of a swastika in connection with Buddhism, Hinduism or Jainism does not constitute the display of a Nazi symbol”.
The Australian Christian Lobby has thrown its support behind the bill but agrees the current wording should be altered.
“We are concerned that the Bill’s wording could unintentionally capture the public display of any genuine Christian symbols which may be confused as or appropriated as Nazi symbols. We suggest the draft Bill be amended to expressly exclude that possibility,” it wrote.
The bill prompted fiery debate in the senate last month and tensions boiled over as Liberal senator Sarah Henderson cried in the chamber after an exchange with Labor Minister Murray Watt.
The bill was prompted following a Melbourne rally organised by British anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull and attended by members of the National Socialist Movement.
Some people performed the Nazi salute outside Victorian Parliament and held signs calling transgender people offensive names, sparking clashes as police held back counter-protesters.
Victorian upper house MP Moira Deeming attended the event and was later suspended from the Liberal party for nine months.
The Victorian government is moving to amend existing laws banning Nazi symbols in public to also include the Nazi salute.
Most states and territories have or are in the process of banning displays of Nazi symbols, with the salute covered in some jurisdictions.
All existing and proposed bans make exceptions including for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and other groups for whom the swastika is an important symbol predating Nazism.
Peter Wertheim
Co-CEO of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, told J-Wire: “ASIO has now provided important verification that the public display of Nazi symbols and performance of Nazi gestures is used by neo-Nazi groups to recruit impressionable and alienated young men and, to a lesser extent, young women, using much the same psychological tools that child sexual abusers use to groom their victims. The public display of Nazi symbols in support of Nazi ideology was, for decades after World War II, a rarity in Australia. Yet in recent years, there has been a sustained proliferation of Nazi symbols and gestures in the public sphere, including, but not limited to, displays online.
The negative impacts also include threats and menace conveyed to communities who are targeted by Nazi hate-ideology and an undermining of their sense of security and of social cohesion. Legislation to ban the public display of Nazi symbols and gestures has been enacted in NSW and Victoria, and Bills are currently under consideration in Queensland and Tasmania in addition to the current Federal Bill. They take different forms and treat particular issues differently. Australia has struggled to come up with a best practice model law. Laws in overseas countries, which have had their own particular historical experiences of the evils of Nazi tyranny, are of some, but limited, relevance in Australia.
In my discussions with the Attorney-General, I have emphasised that the ban should not be limited to one or two of the traditional Nazi symbols like the Hakenkreuz. If the legislation is to be effective, it needs to be flexible enough to capture the public display of any symbol as a Nazi symbol, including online, as well as the performance of Nazi gestures. This question can be decided by a court in any particular case based on the evidence.
Any legislation also needs to be complemented by appropriate education in schools and, more widely, so that the appalling realities of life under Nazism remain well-understood and are not lost in ignorance with the passing of time.
