Federal law will outlaw Nazi salutes
"The Nazi salute is used to frighten and intimidate its targets. Anyone engaging in Nazi salutes knows the intent," says Peter Wertheim, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO.
Jewish communal leaders have applauded the federal government’s inclusion of Nazi salutes in a bill to outlaw Nazi symbols in Australia.
Coalition MPs on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security had recommended Nazi salutes be included in the prohibition of Nazi symbols and trade in memorabilia, but Labor committee members argued a ban on salutes would be difficult to police, and was more appropriate as states and territories law.
However, the government yesterday amended legislation introduced in June, adding public Nazi salutes as a criminal offence.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus stated, “The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) bill sends a clear message that there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts.
“The amendments will ensure that no one will be allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols which celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology. There is absolutely no place in Australia for hatred, violence and antisemitism.”
Addressing concerns that the bill only bans two specific Nazi symbols – the Hakenkreuz and SS sig rune – he added, “This bill directly bans the two most prominent Nazi symbols and an abhorrent action that glorifies the Holocaust and terrorist acts.
“But no one should think of this as an end. As I have said from day one, this is our starting point and if we need to do more, we will.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim said the amended bill “has many positive features which will be welcome news to the Australian Jewish community, especially with the extraordinary increases we have seen recently in the level of antisemitism from different quarters”.
“We are gratified that the legislation will now include a ban on the public performance of the Nazi salute, which will apply nationwide, as we have been advocating.”
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the measure was particularly welcome at a time when antisemitism is rising globally and in Australia.
“The Nazi salute is used to frighten and intimidate its targets. Anyone engaging in Nazi salutes knows the intent: it is a universal signal of hatred and genocide,” he said.
“This new law is about marginalising the tiny minority of open racist extremists in this country … Unless and until there are consequences for their actions, we can expect extremists to become even more brazen.”
Welcoming the inclusion of salutes in the symbols ban, Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said, “We have seen both of these appalling things occur in public in Australia in the last two months. Once this legislation is passed, we would expect police to enforce these new laws.”
Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said that the broader legislation also banning the Nazi salute represents “the unmistakable message that the ultimate gesture of inhumanity will never find shelter in our country”.
It follows a group of neo-Nazis performing Nazi salutes on the steps of the Victorian state Parliament earlier this year.
The bill was expected to pass the House of Representatives on Wednesday before progressing to the Senate, where it is expected to be rubber-stamped next week.
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