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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-10-31 Daily Xml
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Select Committee on Prohibition of Neo-Nazi Symbols

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:04): Under standing order 107, I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Hon. Sarah Game on the topic of the prohibition of Neo-Nazi symbols select committee, which she chairs.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: In response to a spate of what appeared to be Nazi or Neo-Nazi activity and harm in Adelaide at the time, back in 2022 the Legislative Council established a select committee to inquire into the prohibition of Nazi symbols. At the time, the Labor Minister for Multicultural Affairs, by way of a media release also quoting the Hon. Sarah Game MLC, noted that Labor would support the One Nation MLC to chair this committee. The original date for receipt of submissions was then 13 January 2023.

According to the parliamentary website, the committee has now received and published at least 29 submissions and held three public hearings, those hearings being held on 16 March 2023, 11 May 2023 and 23 June 2023. It appears it is now four months since a public hearing has been held. It is also nine months since the submissions closed and well over a year since the committee was announced.

In that time we have seen all other states—Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, WA, Tasmania—and the Australian Capital Territory move to legislate bans on Nazi symbols and salutes and other associated actions. At this rate, we may well be the very last jurisdiction in Australia to move to address this scourge. My questions to the member, as the Chair of the Select Committee on Prohibition of Neo-Nazi Symbols, are:

1. When does she anticipate this select committee will report?

2. Should this council wait for that committee's report before enacting legislation to prohibit Nazi symbols in our state?

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Game, you can choose to answer that question, but I will remind you that deliberations of a committee that haven't been made public are not to be discussed at this point.

The Hon. S.L. GAME (15:06): I am very proud of my Jewish heritage, and I want to use this opportunity to stress that I am very motivated to stamp out any antisemitism, particularly in the current climate, although obviously I feel for everyone involved in the current global conflict.

My understanding was that there was federal legislation taking place. I will have to check procedures, but I understood we were awaiting some sort of feedback about national progress with that committee. I would also remind the chamber that in February my father died, and there was a delay for that reason. I am committed to the committee, but I was of the understanding that we were awaiting work that was happening under the Labor government at a federal level.

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