In NSW, exhibiting Nazi-themed items or intentionally flying a Nazi flag may result in up to a year in prison and a $11,000 fine.
On Thursday, the upper chamber rapidly approved the Crimes Amendment (Prohibition on Display of Nazi Symbols) Bill 2022 by a unanimous vote.
In an effort to combat the increasing anti-Semitism, an investigation earlier this year proposed a ban on the public display of Nazi insignia.
After Victoria in June, NSW became the second Australian state to enact the historic law.
CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Darren Bark, referred to the law’s passage as a momentous day for NSW.
He said that “Nazi symbols are a doorway to violence and are utilised by radicals as a recruiting tool.”
In our state, a legislation banning their exhibition is long overdue and much needed. Finally, the offenders will answer for their actions.
The Holocaust was a genocide committed by the Nazi dictatorship in Germany during World War II that resulted in the deaths of about six million Jews as well as members of other minority groups including homosexuals, Black people, and Roma people.
The passage of the measure, according to NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman, is an important turning point in the state’s rejection of toxic ideology.
The exhibition of Nazi insignia and the intolerance and hate they stand for will not be accepted, he added, and this new offence communicates that message loud and clear.
“This new criminal offence will provide significant, supplemental protections against hate speech and vilification in our state,” the statement reads.
The measure includes a clause allowing the swastika emblem to be used in scholarly, historical, or educational contexts, allowing Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains to show it in situations where it has religious importance.
The Hindu community has been uneasy about displaying our emblem of peace for too long since it resembles an evil symbol.
This is no more,” said Surinder Jain, national vice-president of the Hindu Council of Australia.
Mr. Bark remarked that the law is also “a game-changer in fighting online hatred” and urged digital firms to step up their efforts to get rid of Nazi-related images and symbols.
Walt Secord of Labor, a proponent of the measure and a member of the parliamentary panel looking into the prohibition of Nazi symbols, said that 31 instances of Nazi flag display were reported to the police in 2020.
In the upper chamber, several government and opposition members shared personal accounts of how they and their families had survived the Holocaust, while others expressed concern about the risks of neo-Nazi movements that were on the rise.
On Thursday, Mr. Secord made reference to a NSW man who was detained by counterterrorism police in September and discovered to be in possession of a Nazi banner, as well as intentions to create a 3D-printed pistol, and to have a map of the state up on his bedroom wall.
According to ASIO’s 2020 report, almost 40% of the counterterrorism cases it handles include far-right violent extremism that places a strong focus on neo-Nazi ideology.