Australia bans Nazi symbols nationwide

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Australia’s government plans legislation to ban swastikas and other Nazi symbols nationwide due to an increase in far-right activity.

While most Australian states already ban such Nazi symbols, the federal law would go further by also banning the trade in such material.

The Labor Party government controls the House of Representatives but not the Senate, and it’s unclear when a ban might pass or take effect. The law would include a penalty for people displaying Nazi symbols of up to a year in prison.

Displaying symbols for religious, educational or artistic purposes would be among a range of exclusions from the ban. It will not affect the use of the swastika for people observing Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

This is while the number of neo-Nazis was small, but the main domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, had raised concerns about their activity in the past three years.