Waving a Nazi flag or displaying memorabilia bearing swastikas will be criminalised in NSW with the state government preparing laws to ban the hateful symbol.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman has indicated the government is committed to introducing its own bill to criminalise the public display of Nazi symbols in order to “provide an additional safeguard to the existing protections in NSW against vilifying conduct”.
The announcement comes after a NSW parliamentary inquiry in February unanimously recommended a ban on the public display of Nazi symbols.
Labor MP Walt Secord, who introduced a bill and has been campaigning for two years on the issue, welcomed the Attorney General’s plan.
Under Mr Secord’s proposed legislation, the maximum penalty for an individual flouting the ban would be a $5500 fine or imprisonment for six months or both.
Last year Victoria became the first state or territory to initiate legislation outlawing Nazi symbols.
Mr Secord said 31 incidents of displays of Nazi flags were reported to the police in 2020, including one in a home close to a synagogue in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Newtown.
