Two Sydney teenagers have been charged after a swastika was allegedly drawn on the wall of a public toilet block, and one faces a year in jail if convicted.
Both 16-year-old males were charged with “intentionally mark premises etc without consent”, and one was also charged with “knowingly display by public act Nazi symbol without excuse”, NSW Police said on Tuesday.
The latter offence was created in NSW in 2022 and has a maximum penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment and/or an $11,000 fine.
The display of a swastika in connection with Buddhism, Hinduism or Jainism is exempt, as is a display done reasonably and in good faith for academic, artistic or educational purposes, or for another purpose in the public interest.
The teenagers were issued a court attendance notice to appear before a Children’s Court on Tuesday September 24, 2024.
Police were called to a toilet block in the beachside suburb of Dee Why on August 7 after being told two boys were allegedly drawing graffiti with black markers. One was arrested at the scene and released, while another was arrested in the same suburb on August 10.
“Satan is king of world” was also graffitied on the wall of the building, along with a picture of a pentagram and drawings of a shirtless bodybuilder and a man in a dollar sign T-shirt smoking what appears to be a marijuana cigarette.
The NSW Nazi symbols ban was introduced by Liberal MP Gabrielle Upton in June 2022, and passed parliament on August 11 that year.
Upon leaving politics in 2023 Ms Upton said her relationship with the Jewish community was the “most deep, trusted and communal” she had in her 12 years in parliament, during which time she visited Israel three times, the Australian Jewish News reported.
The 2022 NSW legislation was followed by a nationwide Nazi symbols ban, which was introduced in 2023 and came into effect at the beginning of the year.
Under the new federal laws drawn up by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who is Jewish, it is a criminal offence to perform the Hitler salute or display the swastika or SS symbol in public. The ban also covers the sale and trade of those symbols.
The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill 2023 also criminalised the display of the prohibited symbols in documents, films, videos or television programs that are available to the public on the internet, and included new offences relating to “violent extremist material”.
Those offences, which include accessing, publishing, and possessing “violent extremist material” on a carriage service, are punishable by five years in jail.
Earlier this year Victoria also banned the Nazi salute after a series of rallies by the National Socialist Network in Melbourne and Ballarat where members held signs saying “destroy paedo freaks”, “expose Jewish power”, “Voice = anti-White”, and “Australia for the White man”.
