HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-06-27 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Bills

Summary Offences (Nazi Salute and Symbols Prohibition) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Veterans Affairs, Minister for Local Government) (12:01): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today I introduce the Summary Offences (Nazi Salute and Symbols Prohibition) Amendment Bill 2023. This bill addresses concerns about rising Neo-Nazi activities in South Australia involving displays of the Hakenkreuz, also commonly called the swastika, and other Nazi symbols, including the Nazi salute.

Concerns have been growing about an observed rise in public activities by self-professed Neo-Nazi groups, involving unacceptable displays of the Nazi Hakenkreuz symbol, the name for the swastika symbol adopted as an emblem of the German Nazi Party, and of the Nazi salute.

Indeed, just this week we saw one of these hateful symbols graffitied on to a wall near the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation in Glenside. These symbols are associated with genocide and with racial hatred, and are widely recognised by the general public as symbols of hate, violence and intolerance. This promotion of Neo-Nazi extreme far-right or white supremacist political ideology has the inherent power to invoke trauma and fear in not only the Jewish community but also other cultural groups.

It is also used as an attempt to recruit or radicalise vulnerable members and individuals, with fears of further spread and escalation of harassment and, ultimately, violence. Prohibiting public displays of Nazi symbols and salutes, as this bill seeks to do, will help address these concerns and send a clear message that South Australia celebrates diversity and rejects racism, that we reject antisemitism and all forms of harassment and hate speech against minorities.

In June 2022, following the introduction of a bill by the Hon. Sarah Game, the government supported the establishment of a select committee on this issue. The select committee inquiry on the prohibition of Neo-Nazi symbols, chaired by the Hon. Sarah Game, was established on 19 October 2022 and has received extensive evidence about the proposal to ban Nazi symbols since that time.

Since the introduction of Ms Game's private member's bill and the establishment of a select committee, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have all enacted legislation to prohibit Nazi symbols. More recently, the commonwealth government also introduced and passed a bill that prohibits public displays of Nazi symbols, the commonwealth Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill. The commonwealth act that commenced on 8 January 2024 is described as intended to complement state and territory laws and extend their operation, consistent with the Australian government's constitutional heads of power, including in respect of trade and online publications.

The Western Australian government has also recently introduced a bill, on 19 June of this year, to ban public use of the symbol and salute. In the meantime, there have been widely reported incidents of public displays of Nazi symbols, including disturbing public displays of the Nazi salute by self-proclaimed Neo-Nazi groups and individuals.

The select committee's work in gathering extensive evidence and submissions has helped in the preparation of this government bill, in particular in drafting the exclusions to apply for innocent display activities. The submissions and in-person evidence to the select committee indicated strong support for action to ban Nazi symbols, including Nazi salutes, provided adequate defences or exclusions are provided for innocent display activities for a legitimate public purpose.

In particular, evidence to the select committee supported an approach to legislate now in line with other jurisdictions to address the concerning rise in unacceptable displays of Nazi symbols and salutes, without precluding any later consideration of whether anti-vilification legislation or other offences should be amended to capture hate speech more broadly.

This Summary Offences (Nazi Salute and Symbols Prohibition) Amendment Bill 2023 will amend the Summary Offences Act 1953 to insert a new part 6A summary offence of public use of a Nazi symbol or Nazi salute, with a maximum penalty of a $20,000 fine or 12 months' imprisonment. The bill targets an observed rise in public Neo-Nazi activities where these activities are broadly white supremacist, anti-immigrant and against the LGBTIQA+ community, as well as directed at the Jewish community.

The bill is drafted to ensure that it does not unreasonably restrict freedom of speech or political communication, being targeted to Nazi symbols, which are widely recognised as symbols of hate, violence and intolerance. The bill ensures that sufficiently broad defences are available for innocent displays of Nazi symbols, including for genuine religious, academic, artistic, educational, cultural, scientific, law enforcement or journalistic purposes.

In particular, it is important to reassure the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain communities in South Australia that defences will allow for displays of the swastika, which is the same or similar to the Nazi Hakenkreuz symbol in appearance but which has been used for thousands of years as a religious symbol of peace, including by members of the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain faiths.

The bill takes the approach of the New South Wales legislation in not limiting prohibited Nazi symbols to specific prescribed symbols. However, for clarity and ease of enforcement, the bill defines a Nazi symbol as including, but not limited to, the Hakenkreuz, as described in the bill, or another Nazi symbol that may be prescribed, as well as the Nazi salute.

The bill includes an additional separate offence of failing to comply with a police direction to remove the prohibited symbol to ensure that offending material is promptly removed from public display. Creating these offences in the bill will also ensure that police have the necessary powers to direct anyone publicly displaying the Nazi salute in breach of the legislation to move on and cease their offending conduct.

As the Attorney-General did in the other place, I would like to again thank all parties and stakeholders who have contributed to this piece of legislation. The bill received broad support in that place and I look forward to its swift passage today, which I understand the office of the member for Heysen has agreed to. The passage of this bill today will send a clear message to the South Australian community of parliament's zero tolerance approach to intolerable and hate-fuelled discrimination.

I commend the bill to the house and I seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Summary Offences Act 1953

3—Insertion of Part 6A

This clause inserts a new Part 6A into the principal Act, creating new offences to do with Nazi symbols and the Nazi salute.

Part 6A—Nazi salute or symbols

32A—Interpretation

Proposed section 32A inserts definitions for the purposes of the Part.

32B—Prohibition on use of Nazi salute or Nazi symbols

Proposed section 32B creates a new offence of engaging in a prohibited act, which is defined as the publication of a Nazi symbol or the performance of a Nazi salute. The section also provides for exemptions where the act was for a legitimate public purpose, was by a member of law enforcement or intelligence personnel or was in the course of the administration of justice.

32C—Direction to remove Nazi symbol from public display

Proposed section 32C gives police officers the power to direct a person to remove a Nazi symbol from display if the officer reasonably believes the display constitutes an offence against section 32B, and makes it an offence for a person to refuse to comply with such a direction.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (12:09): I rise to indicate I am the lead speaker for the opposition. I indicate the opposition's support for the bill and I will speak briefly in terms of supporting the bill. We have just heard from the minister that the minister has risen to introduce the bill, and the reason that we are able to move through all stages is because it has been transmitted here from another place, so there is no need to suspend standing orders to deal with it all today. It is important to note that context because this is a bill that was in fact introduced into the parliament on 30 November last year. It passed through the other place on 19 March this year and I think it is fair to say it has languished on the Notice Paper of this house since then, with that indication all the while sitting next to it.

What do we see that brings it now to being all of a sudden a priority today for the government? I might say, again, it is no particular criticism of the minister. The minister rises to say 'I am here to introduce this bill,' and then what we have heard, for those who follow the record, is precisely what the Attorney-General in another place advised back in November 2023, so we are hearing it on repeat. What is sadly continuing over that time is that there is seen in our community the public display of these heinous symbols, and what has occurred to bring the debate on today is, I am reliably informed, the display of the swastika by it being painted on a wall in a public place in the suburbs of Adelaide as recently as yesterday.

My office was contacted by the Attorney-General's office a few minutes before 6pm yesterday to indicate that the government was moving in this way, and within a few moments we saw that there was a piece published in the media—that is, at 6pm—and here we are. So it is clear that the government is now moving with some haste to give priority to this bill. It is well that is does, but let's be clear: it has languished for far too long on the Notice Paper.

Events, history and context speak very loudly. They speak very loudly here. In circumstances where we have seen the Jewish community in South Australia, let alone across the country and around the world, under the kind of pressure and difficulty that we have seen, particularly since 7 October last year, for this to then arise and for us to find ourselves dealing with this legislation in these circumstances is regrettable indeed. The capacity of this place to move now to ensure the passage of the bill is a silver lining of what is a very dark cloud.

I pay particular tribute to Norman Schueler OAM, who has been steadfast in his leadership of the Jewish community. He was front and centre in the media, providing a response and being very clear about the need, as he has over this now protracted period of time, to move in this direction. As the minister has rehearsed, this is already the subject of measures in other states and is also the subject of commonwealth legislation to the extent that the prohibitions answer matters of commonwealth jurisdiction, primarily as to trade and communication.

So here we are. We condemn antisemitism in all its forms. We condemn the use of these symbols, and to the extent that these additions to the Summary Offences Act can in concert with the commonwealth prohibitions ensure that we do not see the use of these symbols, however offensive they are, on display in South Australia anymore, then that is to be commended.

As the government has indicated, the development of the bill has a history that in these circumstances commenced following the introduction of a bill by the Hon. Sarah Game, not quite a couple of years ago, in another place. It was then the subject of consideration by a committee of the parliament.

The new section 32A of the Summary Offences Act will provide a ready reckoner in terms of newly defined terms that are the subject of the prohibitions. They include the Nazi salute, the Nazi symbol, the publishing of a Nazi symbol, and we know then that section 32B will provide that important defence for those certain legitimate uses of the Hakenkreuz. Section 32C will provide for the practical means by which a police officer may give a direction in terms of the removal from display. The imposition of these new provisions providing for offences, as they do in the Summary Offences Act, will mean that this is a very practical means by which police and, in turn, the courts can apply penalties in a way that is practical and effective. There is a maximum pecuniary penalty of $20,000 or imprisonment for 12 months for offences that are the subject of the bill.

It has been too long getting here, its passage today is welcomed, and may we once and for all see an end to the display of these symbols and an end to actions that, for reasons that are completely unknown to me, somehow continue to be actions and symbols for which there are people in this country who see there is some advantage to be gained by association. There is none. They are symbols of evil. They are to be rejected. To the extent that this bill, with the new offences that it provides for and those penalties, contributes to ensuring that that occurs, then that is to be commended. I commend the bill to the house.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:18): I rise to support the Summary Offences (Nazi Salute and Symbols Prohibition) Amendment Bill which prohibits the public displays of Nazi symbols and the Nazi salute. I want to acknowledge the work of the Attorney-General in the other place for his hard work in drafting the bill that is now before us.

The Malinauskas government is taking the use of Nazi symbols and the Nazi salute very seriously, given that they have proven to perpetrate such unacceptable displays of hatred, violence and extremism. It was only this week that we saw a swastika spray-painted onto a wall in the eastern suburbs, and then, of course, swiftly removed. The electorate of Light has also been subject to the distribution of abhorrent and extreme right-wing materials, targeting the Islamic Society of South Australia.

This is not representative of who we are as an inclusive, multicultural society. This state has benefited from being proudly multicultural. This includes building the first mosque in Australia, in 1882 at Marree, and then in 1888 building the first mosque in Adelaide, which is the oldest permanent mosque in Australia.

Not long ago near my electorate, a vile and racist banner was hung from a bridge over Main North Road. Alongside, a small, masked group of people were performing Nazi salutes. Our community in Salisbury showed who we truly are by speaking out against such behaviour. It was very clear that the people who perpetrated such hatred represent a very small minority of our community. I commend the member for Playford, the Mayor of Salisbury, and the CEO of the Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia for taking such swift action to call out the disturbing display.

The saddest part about this is that we have seen a number of other right-wing extremist displays over the years, such as in June 2021 when a far-right conspiracy group stormed an Onkaparinga council meeting. In July of 2022, unsolicited Nazi symbol stickers were distributed throughout North Adelaide and placed on public infrastructure. In September 2022, a Neo-Nazi gathering was held outside the Holocaust Museum. That same month, the Nazi National Socialist Network claimed responsibility for painting the swastika over multicultural artwork in Kent Town.

In February 2023, a Nazi symbol was removed above a tattoo parlour on Hindley Street, and in June 2023, the Aboriginal flag was vandalised with a swastika on wharf equipment at Port Adelaide. These are very sad events, shocking events, but what we are presenting here today is to call this out, and to say there is no place in South Australia for this hatred. South Australia is home to people coming from more than 200 countries, speaking some 180 languages. There is no room for hatred, extremism and racism in our society, and this legislation will be supporting that by legislating against public displays.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Prohibition of Neo-Nazi Symbols, led by the Hon. Sarah Game MLC. The select committee was established in 2022 to inquire into and report on the prohibition of Neo-Nazi symbols, with reference to the work of other jurisdictions, the Australian Constitution, the types of symbols used to promote Neo-Nazi ideology, and the lived experience of those subject to such ideology.

I want to thank all 28 organisations or individuals who provided written submissions to the select committee during the consultation period. Of particular importance to my multicultural affairs portfolio, I was pleased to see that many multicultural organisations provided their input, including the Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre Inc., the Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia, the Islamic Society of South Australia, the Buddhist Society of South Australia, the World Hindu Council of Australia (SA), several organisations representing the Jewish community, and the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations.

That consultation that occurred to shape the inquiry provided a solid foundation to draft the bill that is before us today. South Australia joins a long line of Australian jurisdictions, including the commonwealth, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT in enacting such legislation. This bill balances the need to avoid being either too narrow or too descriptive. It ensures Nazi symbols are explicitly defined as the Hakenkreuz and the Nazi salute, while also capturing other prescribed symbols, as well as any symbols that can be mistaken for a Nazi symbol.

As Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I thought it was particularly important that we ensured the bill excludes the use of these symbols in good faith for academic, artistic, religious, scientific, cultural, educational, law enforcement and news reporting purposes. For instance, a similar religious symbol of peace is used by the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain faiths. The Holocaust Museum also uses the Nazi symbols for educational purposes, and they want that education to continue.

While social media can be a powerful tool to bring about positive change and connection, in equal measure it can fuel harmful rhetoric and extremism, hidden behind the veils of anonymity. It is for this reason that social media and other forms of broadcasting of the symbol will be included in the definition of 'public act'. This is a balanced and forward-thinking bill that takes steps to capture the variety of displays and tactics used by Neo-Nazis to perpetuate hateful ideology and marginalise people in our community.

While this is the right thing to do, it is an incredibly sad day that throughout Australia and here in our state this legislation has to come forward. I will be honest: I never thought we would ever have to do this. I never thought we would see this rise, again, of people defining themselves as separate to the wider community, who have issues about other religions, LGBTIQ+ communities and mixed marriages.

This is not who we are in Australia. Multicultural is us; it is not them. We have seen waves and waves of migration, and it is this diversity that gives us our strength, but we must always stand up and speak out when we see hate, and now today we legislate against it. I support this bill.

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (12:26): I rise to make a brief contribution in support of the Summary Offences (Nazi Salute and Symbols Prohibition) Amendment Bill, which is a bill that seeks to prohibit the use or display of the Nazi salute and Nazi symbols, as defined in this bill. They are, of course, symbols that have absolutely no place in South Australia. They are symbols of hate. They are symbols of violence. They are symbols of division. It is right that we prohibit them today, noting that they are also symbols that cause significant offence and distress and, indeed, intimidation to many in our community.

These symbols are the symbolic manifestation of antisemitism in our community. I think, very sadly, we see antisemitism on the rise around Australia, and perhaps, very concerningly and upsettingly, here in South Australia. It is only right that all of us in this place call it out when we see it. We condemn antisemitism in all its forms, including the form that this bill seeks to prohibit today.

There is a prohibition on the display of these symbols already existing in federal law, and indeed similar legislation has been implemented in a number of jurisdictions around the country. This bill will complement the federal law that already exists. It will prohibit the use and display of these symbols. Importantly, it will also provide a mechanism to direct the removal and taking down of such symbols, and importantly it will also provide significant penalties when an offence is committed under this act. I note, as others have, that there is a series of exceptions in the act to provide some safeguards around freedom of speech and the legitimate use in certain circumstances of these symbols.

It is a particularly timely moment for us to be considering this bill, with the latest report of the display of one of these symbols coming through as recently as yesterday, when in my own community we saw the graffiti of a Nazi symbol on a wall in Glenside, quite close to the Adelaide Hebrew community, behind the Frewville supermarket. While that graffiti was rightly very promptly removed, it is also right that we very promptly pass this legislation today. I only wish we had done so sooner.

I particularly acknowledge my constituent Norm Schueler, the leader of the Jewish Community Council, who spoke out against this latest example of antisemitism and this latest example of the display of the Nazi symbol in my own local community just yesterday. I know this is something that causes him, and the community that he represents, incredible sadness and distress. I know that he is a big supporter of the reforms we are trying to pass today, just as I am, and I hope and expect this house to pass this bill and show that we reject antisemitism in all its forms, we reject racism, we reject hate speech and we want to promote an inclusive, multicultural South Australia where these sorts of symbols have no place. I commend this bill to the house.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (12:31): I would like to make a brief contribution to this debate and speak in support of the bill. I support the bill because of what the bill symbolises. I think the importance of this bill is that it sends a strong message that racism is not acceptable in this community and it is not a good thing to have in our community. This has been brought home to me this week in my electorate and also in my own community where I live. An anonymous letter was distributed to a whole range of households that seeks to build distrust in the community and seeks to do something that this bill is aiming to say is not acceptable behaviour.

I would like to talk about the example in my electorate because it highlights that we need to do a lot more in this area. I think this bill alone does not address the issue sufficiently. We need to make sure we have appropriate education in our community to make sure we address the issues and causes that give rise to this sort of hateful behaviour. I think experience has shown that laws by themselves do not necessarily bring out changes in behaviour; they are an important ingredient, but not a full answer.

As I mentioned, over the past week my community have received in their letterboxes an anonymous flyer. On the heading of that flyer, it says, 'Warning—mosque proposed in your area'. The anonymous letter seeks to ask people to express their concerns to me, as the local MP, about the proposed mosque that is to be built adjacent to the Smithfield cemetery on Smith Road at Evanston South. Unfortunately, the letter by its very nature tends to imply that my office or I have something to do with it by naming my office as the place people should go to lodge complaints about the proposed mosque.

At the outset, I would like to make it very clear: neither I nor anybody in my office has anything to do with this anonymous letter. I do not endorse its contents, I do not support the ideology behind it and the views expressed in the letter could not be any more different to my personal views. Apart from being factually incorrect in many ways, it is designed to sow disharmony and create panic in my community of Kudla, which has been a very successful multicultural society. I can speak as a resident who has lived in that area for over 60 years.

As a boy, I could actually count the number of houses in the community on my two hands, and I can tell you that even when I was a boy, we had people from a whole range of different ethnic backgrounds and we had a harmonious community. I remember as a boy having friends from Italian, Greek, Bulgarian, Russian and French backgrounds, and there was a sprinkling of Anglo-Australians as well.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: There were some Hungarians, yes. We took care of each other as a community, and we still do. Over time the cultural mix of Kudla, where I live, has changed as some of the children of the first European migrants have moved from the area to other parts of Adelaide and Australia, seeking new opportunities. According to the current electoral roll, in my humble suburb of Kudla we now have people from Afghanistan, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Greece, India, Italy, Laos, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Taiwan, Tanzania, the USA, Vietnam, Croatia, South Africa and Zambia.

So you can understand why, as a resident of Kudla and its local MP, I would not endorse what the Nazi symbol symbolises. It basically symbolises a 'them and us' attitude when we are all human beings and are all trying to do the best we can to survive in this world. Some of my new neighbours I bump into at church on Sunday, and we talk about how great our local community is. Like my parents and myself, they seek to give their families a better quality of life free from fear and violence.

That is what the Nazi symbol symbolises—fear and violence. That is what we should not tolerate in our society. No person should live in fear and violence. Whether they live in Australia or anywhere else—in the Middle East, etc.—nobody should live in fear and violence.

I still live in Kudla after all those years. I have raised my children in the area and, like most new arrivals in the area, call Kudla my home. I still believe we are a community that cares for each other irrespective of where we started our life's journey. This is why I found the anonymous letter sad, hurtful and unnecessary.

I understand that some people in our community are doing it tough at the moment, but we are all better when we work together as a community. This ideology of division that the anonymous letter promotes has led to disastrous outcomes in other countries and other times. All it does is bring pain to many people, often those least able to defend themselves, and for this and many other reasons I have decided to speak out.

If people have concerns that they feel they need to address, they can approach their local MPs—myself and other local MPs—or whoever they believe is the decision-maker. They do not have to write anonymous letters to deal with these issues or to get their attention. The anonymous letter asks that people in my electorate approach me to stop the mosque in my community. That advice is wrong: the application is a development application, and it would be quite improper for me to interfere with that process apart from making representations, and it is assessed by an independent assessment panel. Neither I nor the state government can improperly interfere with the process.

I am aware that the application has been lodged. I am aware of that because I have actually met with the Islamic Society and I have also met with residents nearby to the proposed site who, having met with the Islamic Society to discuss the proposal, are comfortable with the application itself. I will go further. The Islamic Society are very mindful of and sensitive to the views of local community. Accordingly, this mosque does not have traditional design and reflects both Eastern and Western architecture. They have designed it in a way that is encompassing and welcoming of all communities of all faiths, and I respect the Islamic Society for that decision they have made there.

In my view, Australia has been very successful in integrating migrants. Yes, initially there are some problems in the first generation, but by the second and third generations the migrants become Aussies very quickly. The extreme and hurtful views expressed in this anonymous letter are not new, though. The language and views expressed in the letter are no different to those used to attack post-World War II migrants, including Italians, Greeks, Yugoslavians and many others from post-war Europe. Those migrants were also on the receiving end of this type of hateful mail.

I recall that, when I was researching another matter, I saw a letter advertising a rental, and the sign said, 'No Italians or dogs allowed.' That is the sort of hateful message that Nazi symbols represent. A lot of people are affected by racism, and that is why I am a bit cautious about banning things; I am not sure how effective that can be. I can understand why we are doing it, but we need to make sure that in dealing with these sorts of issues we educate people on what this means, and we also attack the sources of those issues. We need to make sure we understand why people are behaving in this highly inappropriate way.

More recently, people from an Asian background became the next group of migrants to be on the receiving end of this type of behaviour. At the moment, unfortunately people from Africa and the Middle East, who have now joined my community, are on the receiving end of this attack. I think this is an attempt to divide our community, and symbols like Nazi symbols do that: they seek to divide communities. The message is that there are us and them, and in our society it should all be about us.

I am quite proud to live in the area I live in, and I am proud to say I live in a community that has been a multicultural community since I arrived in Australia in 1963. It has been a harmonious community, and continues to be a harmonious community. In support of this bill, it is important that we do not forget that we need to make sure that we also educate people and that we also deal with the sources of this inappropriate behaviour.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (12:42): I rise to support the bill, and I understand that it is about 90 years too late. It was 1933 when Adolf Hitler was offered a power-sharing arrangement. Being the largest party in the German parliament, but still not in majority, the Coalition that was put together at election collapsed and the Prime Minister conceded to a deal that meant that Adolf Hitler would be the Chancellor of Germany in that arrangement. Almost immediately, we saw Hitler's commitment to annihilate the Jewish community in Germany. Of course, it was not just Germany that he had his eyes on, it was Jews throughout the entire world; and that is what the symbol is all about.

The symbol is all about the annihilation of the Jewish community, and all those other things that happened: the invasion of Poland and of Western Europe and, of course, the second front being opened up in Russia, breaking the deal that Hitler made with Stalin at the time, that Russia would not be invaded. It was all about his ambition to destroy the Jewish race. He needed a scapegoat for his campaign in the 1920s to become the ruler of Germany, and he used the Jewish community in Germany as the reason for imposing reparations on Germany after the First World War. The stalling economy was stopping people from having jobs, and he blamed the Jews for that. Of course, we have all seen the broadcasting of cinema clips that spoke about Jews and showed rats on the screen in the cinema at the same time. We can see the motivation.

Although Adolf Hitler used the Jews as a political tool, his number one ambition was the genocide of the Jewish community, even to the extent that when Germany started to retreat following the successful D-day invasion from the west, and with the Russians moving in from the east, in that period in 1944, 600,000 more Jews were sent to the gas chambers. That was the number one priority; not sending more reinforcements out to defend the borders but killing more Jews. That is what it was all about.

It is time, it is long overdue, that Nazi symbols be banned. However, we have to remember that today they are being replaced by slogans and signs. The slogan, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' is being chanted by thousands of protesters and university students around Australia in support for Palestine amid the ongoing war with Israel. What does the phrase really mean, and where does it come from?

According to the Anti-Defamation League the chant calls for the Palestinian state to extend from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and is used by the group Hamas which, as we know, is a terrorist group. This would mean dismantling the State of Israel, which most Jewish groups consider antisemitic because it undermines the right of Jewish self-determination and implies calls for Jews to be removed from what they consider to be their ancestral homeland.

We know that Minister Penny Wong has condemned the saying, we know that the Prime Minister has said that the saying is not appropriate. The saying should be in the same category as a swastika, because it is about the genocide of the Jewish race.

We are not talking about religion here. People have debates about religion, but this is all about the Jewish race. Jews have their own religion; it is the only race I know of where the religion is connected to the race. Islam is shared amongst many different races, Catholicism is shared, Christianity is shared amongst many different races, but with the Jewish religion it is with the Jewish population and those of Jewish blood. Consequently, this saying, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' is an endorsement of the Nazi values of genocide of the Jewish race.

While we are contemplating voting to ban the use of the Nazi symbol we should also be looking at how we can stop the use of that racist call for genocide, used in many instances by people not knowing what it even means but using it because they have heard it being said, whether it be on university campuses or whether it be on the steps of the Opera House in Sydney, wherever it is heard. People see it on the media, they see it on TV; they may have sympathy for what is happening in Palestine at the moment so they start shouting, 'From the river to the sea, from the river to the sea,' not knowing that they are actually calling for the genocide of the Jewish race.

I ask those who are supporting this bill to consider the next step in protecting Jews in Australia, and contemplate some way of managing the rising call for the genocide of Jews through the use of that slogan.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Veterans Affairs) (12:49): I thank members for their contributions, particularly the thoughtful contribution from the member for Light who has long been a strong advocate and continues to be on this important matter of public policy. In saying that, I commend the bill to the house.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Veterans Affairs) (12:49): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT