Nazi symbols will soon be banned from public spaces in Australia, where far-right groups are gaining ground and pose a threat of extremist attacks.
A text on the subject will be submitted to the Australian Parliament next week and is expected to be adopted with the support of opposition parties.
Attorney General Marc Dreyfus explained that this law would ban the exhibition and sale of Nazi insignia such as the swastika or the SS lightning bolt.
“There is no place in Australia for symbols glorifying the horrors of the Holocaust,” said Dreyfus. “And we will no longer allow anyone to benefit from the display and sale of items celebrating the Nazis and their evil ideology.”
The Australian Council for Jewish Affairs welcomed the move, saying it was “welcome at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world”.
According to Australian Intelligence, many Australians have joined neo-Nazi groups in recent years, which are stepping up efforts to recruit new members.
According to Australia’s National Security Agency, people linked to the far-right movement are now implicated in 30% of the country’s anti-terrorism cases.
“As for us neo-Nazi groups, it’s the people who let themselves be indoctrinated by this ideology and who regret a lack of action,” explains the director-general of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization (ASIO). Mike Burgess. Because they “take action themselves,” he continues.
Witness the 2019 Christchurch attack in New Zealand, a neighboring country to Australia, in which a white supremacist of Australian descent opened fire in two mosques, killing 51 and injuring 40.
Australia’s two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, had previously restricted the display of Nazi symbols in public spaces.
This new ban, now in effect nationwide, does not apply to Nazi symbols used for artistic or educational purposes. Nor does this apply to the swastika, a religious symbol widespread in Hinduism and Buddhism, the shape of which may be reminiscent of the Nazi swastika.