Lawmakers have banned public displays of the Nazi salute, swastika and other hate symbols as Australia tries to get to grips with a spike in antisemitism.

Australian lawmakers have banned the performance of the Nazi salute in public and outlawed the display or sale of Nazi hate symbols such as the swastika in landmark legislation that went into effect in the country Monday. The new laws also make the act of glorifying OR praising acts of terrorism a criminal offense.

The crime of publicly performing the Nazi salute or displaying the Nazi swastika is punishable by up to 12 months in prison, according to the Reuters news agency.

Mark Dreyfus, Australia’s Attorney-General, said in a press release Monday that the laws — the first of their kind in the country — sent “a clear message: there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts.”

    • @Menu@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
      13•1 year ago

      I’m sure there will be exceptions like in Germany:

      Symbols known to fall under the law are: the swastika as a symbol of the Nazi Party, prohibited in all variants, including mirrored, inverted etc. (exceptions are only applied to swastikas used as religious symbols in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples)

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strafgesetzbuch_section_86a

      Have you heard about the paradox of tolerance?

    • @Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6•1 year ago

      The moment they ban a swastika, it’s a slippery slope to… Absolutely nothing.

      There’s lots of things banned.

      Freeze peach isn’t world wide. Try it. Go to Thailand and insult the monarchy.

      And even without the ban, some concepts/terms have a “fuck around and find out” around them. Try pointing a toy gun at a cop, does that infringe on your freedom?