Australians will be banned from making the Nazi salute in public after the Albanese Government reversed its position on the issue amid pressure from the Opposition and Jewish community groups. Source: The Age.
The Government will also move to ban the public display of the symbols of any proscribed terrorist organisation – a designation including Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic State – rather than a previous plan that singled out a flag associated with IS.
Labor members of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security earlier this month rejected a Coalition proposal to ban the Nazi salute in a rare breakdown of bipartisanship within the committee.
The Government changed its mind in a bid to fend off parliamentary debate about the issue and ensure the passage of its hate symbols bill was a unifying moment, even if the Nazi salute ban proved difficult to enforce.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton earlier this month accused Anthony Albanese of not doing enough to combat antisemitism, a charge the Prime Minister passionately rejected.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said yesterday the new federal laws “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,” he said.
Liberal MP Andrew Wallace, the deputy chair of the intelligence and security committee, said: “I’m glad to hear that Labor has done a backflip and has finally committed to amending legislation to prohibit the Nazi salute.”
FULL STORY
Nazi salute to be banned as federal government changes mind (By Matthew Knott, The Age)
