Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes will meet representatives of the Jewish community to discuss stepping up prohibitions already in place on Nazi symbols and flags.
The development follows a series of recent incidents where white supremacists performed the gesture in public spaces,including at a ceremony on Thursday for Indigenous Australians.
Back row (from left):Jayne Josem,Dvir Abramovich and Jack Leder;and front Sarah Saaroni (left) and Abram Goldberg on the steps of Victorian parliament.Supplied
Holocaust survivors Abram Goldberg,Sarah Saaroni and Jack Leder are the driving force behind the campaign,urging the Andrews government to take action.
The group is being supported by Melbourne Holocaust Museum chief executive Jayne Josem and Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dr Dvir Abramovich.
In a statement,the group said the Nazi salute celebrates “Hitler’s monstrous legacy and the indescribable crimes committed by his regime” and had no place in Victorian society.
The group is urging the Victorian government to “close the lid on this sickening phenomenon” by criminalising the gesture.
“My blood starts to boil when I see the Nazi salute,and it brings back the memory of 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis,” Goldberg,an Order of Australia Medal recipient,said. “It should be banned. No question.”
Leder added:“These are thugs who are trying to intimidate and put fear into people. If they’re allowed to keep on doing this,it justifies it in the eyes of the public. There has to be a law to stop it.”
The salute is already restricted in Germany,Austria,the Czech Republic,Slovakia,Switzerland and Sweden.
The push to outlaw the gesture in Victoria comes after a neo-Nazi group attempted to disrupt an Indigenous mourning ceremony at Coburg Town Hall on Thursday morning.
A group of white supremacists gatecrashed a Merri-bek City Council mourning ceremony in Coburg on Thursday,holding Australian flags and banners with racist slogans on them.
In footage of the incident,four police officers form a line between the neo-Nazi group and ceremony attendees before proceedings were shifted inside. None of the black-clad people involved in the stunt were arrested.
The neo-Nazi group was later spotted in a number of locations around Melbourne’s inner north brandishing banners with white supremacist slogans,whichThe Age has chosen not to reproduce.
Police say they are reviewing body-worn camera footage to determine whether any offences occurred,but said the banner did not constitute an offence under racial vilification laws. Friday marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Australia.
Last year,the Andrews government or Nazi swastika,and became the first jurisdiction in Australia to do so. Anyone who intentionally displays the Nazi symbol in public faces a year in prison or a $22,000 fine.
The ban acted on the recommendation from a cross-party parliamentary inquiry into anti-vilification laws,which called for the display of Nazi symbology to be criminalised.
However,it fell short of outlawing other hate symbols such as the salute.
Abramovich,who was involved in the initial campaign to outlaw the symbol,said the swastika ban was intended as a first step towards addressing the surge in hate-filled ideology.
“There was a very strong and unequivocal indication from the government at that time that they are certainly open and willing to look at banning other Nazi symbols,” he said.
Symes has since reached out to Abramovich to set up a meeting to discuss the logistics of expanding the legislation.
“We’ve been clear there’s no place for this hateful ideology in Victoria – public demonstrations and displays such as these do nothing but cause further pain and division. Vilification has no place in our community,” a government spokesman said.
“The government will continue to monitor the use of hate symbols and vilification and may consider further legislative reforms at a later stage.”
But shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien said it would be “hard to believe that existing laws can’t deal with this conduct” and have the individuals charged.
“Victoria’s equal opportunity,anti-vilification,and public order laws should be able to deal with these attempted provocations from a sad little rabble,” he said.
“Many Australians lost their lives in wars fighting against fascism. So it is appalling to see neo-Nazis disrupting public events on Australia Day.
“Acts of intimidation and racial intolerance have no place in our community and will never be tolerated.”
Daniel Aghion,president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria,backed the push to ban the Nazi salute. But he added that any reform needs to extend to the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
Aghion,who works as a barrister,said there had only been one prosecution under the act – which deals with instances of religious and racial hatred – since its introduction in 2001.
“It’s failing because at the moment what you have to do is you have to prove intent to incite racial hatred against a person,” he said. “The trouble is,it’s very hard to meet that test.”
Josh Roose,an extremism expert and associate professor at Deakin University,said neo-Nazi groups had become more active using the salute following the banning of the swastika.
“They exploit those jurisdictional fault lines and legislative fault lines all the time,” he said. “So it’s just a matter of cleaning up or mopping up an oversight and extending[the ban].”
Roose said white supremacist groups have other symbols they can use instead,but few have the power and historical significance of the salute – which is used to identify and recruit other members.
Earlier this month,white supremacist Thomas Sewell flashed a Nazi salute while speaking to the media outside Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Sewell after being found guilty of assaulting a Channel Nine security guard,who was also racially abused during the attack. Nine is the owner of this masthead.
In another incident earlier this month,20 white supremacists were photographed doing the gesture on Elwood beach. A child was among those captured doing the salute.
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