Displaying Nazism is legally restricted in more than a dozen countries, especially within Europe, according to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center. However, in the United States, a Supreme Court ruling in 1977 upheld the right of the National Socialist Party of America to demonstrate while displaying Nazi symbols under the First Amendment, which protects freedom of expression.
The center-left government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese introduced the Australian bill in June, after incidents in which the Nazi salute was used. These demonstrations included an anti-trans rights march in March and an anti-immigration march in May, both outside the Victorian state parliament building in Melbourne.
Discussing the legislation on The Briving podcast in November, Dreyfus said there had been “disturbing, horrific and unimaginable displays of hatred, violence and anti-Semitic symbols in our communities” over the past year.
“In recent weeks, I'm sorry to say, we've seen an uptick in this type of unacceptable behavior,” he added.
Internet and COVID-19 lockdowns, which were particularly strict in Melbourne, where the main protests took place, were factors in the rise in right-wing extremism, according to a 2022 Australian Parliamentary Library briefing to lawmakers on the issue.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said there was a more than seven-fold increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in October and November 2023, immediately after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war between Israel and Hamas, compared to the same period. in 2022. There was a 13-fold rise in anti-Muslim incidents over a similar period, according to the Islamophobia Register in Australia.
“It should be a matter of pride in our country, which is one of the most multicultural countries in the world, that everyone is free to practice their religion, and everyone is free to live in our country without fear of discrimination,” Dreyfus said. In a November interview.
The federal bill prohibits the public display of Nazi salutes and Nazi symbols including the Hakenkreuz, more commonly referred to as the swastika; The double-signed rune, associated with SS; And the symbols used by terrorist organizations. It also prohibits the circulation of materials bearing prohibited symbols.
It makes what was already illegal to varying degrees under state law in parts of Australia a federal crime, with exceptions for legitimate religious, academic, educational, artistic, literary or scientific purposes and media coverage.
