Australia has passed legislation outlawing the Nazi salute, also known as the Sieg Heil salute, and the display of the swastika symbol and flag associated with the German Workers’ Party in responds to a reported rise in antisemitic incidents throughout the country following the Israel-Hamas war.
“Laws banning the Nazi salute and the display or sale of symbols associated with terror groups came into effect in Australia on Monday as the government responds to a rise in antisemitic incidents following the Israel-Gaza war.
The law makes it an offense punishable by up to 12 months in prison to publicly perform the Nazi salute or display the Nazi swastika or the double-sig rune associated with the Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary group.
The sale and trade of these symbols is similarly prohibited.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said in a statement the legislation sent a clear message there was no place in Australia for those who glorify the Holocaust or 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’.
Introduced in June and passed in December, the law has taken on new significance amid a surge in antisemitism and Islamophobia following the October 7th attack by Hamas, where some 1,200 were killed and 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
The new law also bans the public display or trade in symbols associated with prohibited terror organisations, such as Islamic state, Hamas or the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Exemptions exist for academic, educational or artistic use”. -Lewis Jackson, Reuters
Western states beholden to the neoliberal agenda, like Australia, actively claim moral superiority over Nazism and global jihadism on the grounds that their systems of governance never upheld the same supposed commitment to freedom of expression as seen across the Western world.
Despite this, the so-called democracies of the West have always abandoned the very principle of free speech whenever it happens to serve their asserted political purposes.