Australia’s ban on publicly performing the Nazi salute or displaying Nazi symbols has come into effect.
Under new federal legislation it is now a criminal offence punishable by up to one year in jail 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.
While the ban has not been criticised by a single Australian politician or mainstream media political commentator, it has sparked heated debate on social media, with some X users arguing the laws should also cover Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Communist symbols, while others described the legislation as “Orwellian”.
“Goodbye to freedom,” read one popular comment.
“But you can display pictures of Mao and Stalin and the red star and shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ and cheer for Israel to genocide Palestinians,” said another.
Other users disagreed and welcomed the new laws.
“Yay! Can it be illegal for Pauline Hanson to speak as well, please?” wrote one.
Another comment read: “Good. Now do the same for the Palestinian flags and symbols.”
The new legislation does not apply to religious uses of the symbols, and there are exemptions for journalists, academics and law enforcement.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who is Jewish, said the symbols and salute ban sent a message that “there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts”.
“This is the first legislation of its kind and will ensure no one in Australia will be allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols that celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology,” he said.
The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill 2023 also criminalises the display of the prohibited symbols in documents, films, videos or television programs that are available to the public on the internet, and includes new offences relating to “violent extremist material”.
These 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 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”.
