But we do need to act. We will not tolerate this kind of conduct.
Today is a day for the history books.
It’s about hate and hate has no place in Australia.
What are all of those people talking about? Well, Nazi symbols and the federal government's
plan to ban them from public display and from being sold online across Australia.
I find it almost unthinkable that this legislation is even
necessary. Thousands of Australians fought and died to defeat this evil
and thousands more found refuge in our country from the evils of the Holocaust.
Symbols like the Hakenkreuz, often called the Swastika, and the Double Sig Rune or
Schutzstaffel insignia became some of the most recognisable and most hateful symbols in the
world during the 20th century. You might already know that's because they represented Adolf Hitler
and members of his Nazi party during World War Two, including the Schutzstaffel, or SS, the Nazi
organisation that carried out some of the worst atrocities, especially against Jewish people.
So there's this general idea um that emerged out of, in particular 1930s era Germany,
and this idea of a master race that somehow, in some way, shape, or form,
white people were superior to others, and everyone else should be eradicated.
So it's important to remember what the Nazi swastika, the SS symbol,
and other emblems of the Third Reich represent. They represent the extermination of six million
Jews and millions of others. They represent the gassing of 1.1 million children and millions of
others in the gas chambers. The Holocaust is history's worst and darkest chapter.
The symbols still represent all of the hate, terror, suffering and cruelty of that time,
which is why they're now being used around the world by a small minority of
people in hate groups with extreme views. They're often referred to as far right,
white supremacists or Neo Nazis. They're anti-semitic, which means they're
hostile to or prejudiced against Jewish people. But experts say that's not all.
[chanting]
Those people who wave the Nazi flag, or that possess those symbols, believe in an
Australia without Jews, without Muslims, without members of the LGBTQI+ community,
without Asian Australians, without African Australians, without our First People.
So they’re anti-migration, they don't like people coming in, particularly from developing countries,
they're anti-women, they believe that women belong in the home. They're inherently anti-science,
they're inherently anti-government and anti-democracy. And so they've been
particularly active in recent years, um, not only online, but more recently with protests.
[Protestor] "We stand, as proud white men..." [Crowd] "boo"
The groups have crashed a few protests this year in Sydney and even
outside Parliament House in Melbourne. Far right extremists are also seen as a threat to national
security because they've been known to carry out racist violent acts, including terrorist attacks
like the shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019 that killed 51 people.
Josh, why are we hearing and seeing more about these groups over the past few years?
They've always been there, but there's been an evolution over the last 10 years
in particular, and what we saw was the emergence of President Donald Trump,
in particular, really gave a lot of momentum.
We're gonna walk down to the Capitol!
They all of a sudden had a bit of tacit support at that higher level. So that's one dimension.
Historically, when there's some form of economic crisis, people are drawn to extremist movements.
And in Australia, over the last decade, decade and a half, we've seen the Global Financial Crisis.
We've seen the impact of COVID, we've seen the um, cost-of-living crisis now,
where people can no longer buy a house. And so there's a lot of frustration,
anxiety and anger out there amongst a section of the population.
Now, the proposed change to this federal law will mean up to 12 months in jail for
anyone that displays or trades items with Nazi and SS symbols on them, in public or
online, including on flags, armbands, t-shirts, and even old war memorabilia.
The whole point of these symbols is to polarise, it's to pull our
community apart. We're preventing them from using it to recruit and
from intimidating and inspiring fear, and that, that keeps our community safer.
And we don't think it is moral for businesses
to make money from the suffering and the misery and the deaths of millions.
The ban is something Dr Abramovich has been campaigning for the past six years.
It is a booming tribute to those brave diggers when the Second World War,
sacrificed their lives. It's also of course, a tribute to the 6 million Jews and millions
of others that were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. And of course, it's paying
our respects to the Holocaust survivors who escaped Europe and rebuilt their lives here.
In some states and territories, Nazi symbols are already banned, but the federal law will make
it the same across Australia. But the ban won't include the Nazi salute, which was used to pledge
allegiance to Hitler during the war. Instead, that will be up to states and territories to police,
which some are already working on. Also, some religious groups will be partly exempt, and that's
because the swastika has religious significance as a symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Even the word itself means wellbeing, prosperity, and good fortune, all long before the symbol was
appropriated by the Nazis. And there will be other exemptions like using the symbols
for artistic reasons, like in movies or TV shows, or in museums, for education,
or journalism purposes like this story. While many people see the ban is a good move,
some say they'd like it to cover more ground, like the salute, and even other newer symbols
of hate. While others say it's important to also tackle the rise of hate groups, especially online.
What they're trying to do is target and gain new recruits, they’re in particular they’ll
move into gaming forums, groups like Telegram, but even TikTok and various forms of other social
media. It's not a coming in and attempting to just tell someone to “come and join us,
we're a bunch of Nazis!” It doesn't work like that. What they do is, they groom. I'm optimistic
that young people will hold those conversations or confront it where they see it and support
each other if they do see their schoolmates being dragged into some of this material.
Anyone who's ever chosen to join those groups, in the end realised that it was a big mistake,
and sometimes it is too late because they will get arrested, they will be jailed,
and they will be taken down a very dangerous and a very, very toxic pathway.
If you're feeling worried or upset about that story or anything else you've seen in the news,
make sure you talk to someone about it. You can contact Kids Helpline or check out our website,
where we've got more resources on how to deal with upsetting news.