Prison time, $22,000 fines for Nazi chants in new laws

People who chant Nazi slogans or invoke Nazi “characteristics” would face up to two years in prison and a $22,000 fine under new laws to be introduced to state parliament today.

The proposed Crimes Act amendments make it an offence to publicly display support for Nazi ideology. Chants like “blood and honour”, which was shouted by a group of 60 neo-Nazi protesters outside the parliament earlier this month and has links to Hitler Youth, would be illegal.

The National Socialist Network holding a rally outside NSW Parliament in Sydney.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

The charge would come with a maximum penalty of a year in prison or an $11,000 fine, and doubled to two years’ imprisonment or a $22,000 if the Nazi display is outside a synagogue, a Jewish school or the Sydney Jewish Museum.

Police would also be given new powers to order a suspected Nazi symbol be taken down, and introduce fines of $2200 or a three-month prison sentence for those who don’t follow police direction. Police would also have the power to force a person to reveal their identity if it would help officers investigate a suspected Nazi display.

The legislation clarifies that even if a protest is authorised, these offences still apply.

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“The deplorable stunt we saw outside NSW Parliament has no place in our society. Nobody should be subject to this vile hatred because of their background or faith,” NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said.

“We are giving police and the courts additional powers to hold Nazi extremists to account for their abhorrent views.”

The government will also seek to remove a sunset clause on the offence of inciting racial hatred, an amendment that was supported by the opposition and the Greens, which is set to expire after three years.

The proposed laws are set to be introduced to the parliament on Wednesday but won’t have a chance of passing until next year. Instead of rushing the laws through before parliament rises this year, the legislation will be referred to a lower house committee for scrutiny.

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The government was left scrambling to contain the fallout from the National Socialist Network’s neo-Nazi display outside the parliament, which the premier, police minister and police commissioner said they were all unaware of.

The NSN, through its political arm White Australia, submitted an application to police to hold the rally including a display reading “abolish the Jewish lobby”. Police said officers received legal advice suggesting police did not have legal grounds to challenge the rally in court.

One of the men who attended the rally was unmasked by the Herald as South African national and senior NSN member Matthew Gruter. The civil engineer has since been taken into immigration detention and will be deported.

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