Anti-Nazi laws could be ‘straightened out’ after rally
Source: X
NSW may look to other states’ bans on Nazi salutes to try to remove any ambiguity in laws that ban the public brandishing of related hate symbols.
It follows a white supremacist rally in the small Murray River town of Corowa on Saturday, which has sparked calls for NSW to join other states in explicitly banning the Nazi salute.
It is a criminal offence in NSW to knowingly display a Nazi symbol in public without a reasonable excuse.
The state has no specific ban on gestures such as the heil Hitler salute, although people have successfully been prosecuted for it.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said he believed the Nazi salute was covered by existing laws but vowed to strengthen them if necessary.
“If there’s any ambiguity, we will straighten it out, because I’m not going to allow racism, antisemitism, or some kind of remembrance of this horrific period in human history,” he said on Monday.
Minns said the conduct of those at the rally was “completely obnoxious”.
“I think the people who participated in those rallies have brought shame on themselves and their families,” he said.
“This is not a reflection on the vast majority of people that live in NSW, who are committed to anti-racism.”
The behaviour we saw in Corowa yesterday is completely despicable.
We have a very simple message for these far right extremists & neo-nazis, who are not from our state – you’re not welcome in NSW & any attempts to spread hate here will be met with the full force of @nswpolice.
— Chris Minns (@ChrisMinnsMP) October 13, 2024
Saturday’s rally unfolded at the Murray River town’s war memorial, where about 50 people clad black from head to toe and with masks faces assembled in front of a banner that read “white men fight back”.
There was a hostile reception from many locals, who told them they were not wanted in the town of 5600.
One man, identified in media reports as prominent nationalist activist Thomas Sewell, spoke for the group.
He said they had travelled from Victoria to raise awareness in the town about local people being “eradicated” and replaced with foreign workers.
Corowa is home to the largest piggery in the southern hemisphere. It was taken over by the world’s largest meat processor, Brazilian-based JBS.
“They’ve already begun firing locals from this town. They’re firing locals from their jobs and they’re importing cheap labour from the third world to replace them,” Sewell shouted, in video posted online.
Police said on Sunday there had been no arrests from the rally, although investigations continued.
Mayor Patrick Bourke said on Saturday said the rally was disgusting, cowardly and unbelievable.
“It’s definitely not welcome here,” he said.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan urged communities to unite against such “hate and division”.
“It’s disgraceful behaviour and that is why we should all be united in not just calling out this behaviour, but stamping out this behaviour before it takes root. We must stamp out this behaviour,” she said.
Deputy federal opposition leader Sussan Ley, whose electorate takes in the town, said if the men carried Nazi symbols or performed the salute then they should be charged.
“I was told that they stepped across the border because it was easier to say and do and show the things … in NSW,” she told ABC Radio.
“It comes down to state governments being tough on this stuff.”
Federal laws came into force in January that banned displaying symbols such as the swastika and performing the Nazi salute in public, following similar prohibitions on the gesture at a state level in Victoria and Tasmania.
Last week, Jacob Hersant, 25, became the first Victorian found guilty of intentionally performing the Nazi salute.
In June, three men were convicted in NSW of displaying a Nazi symbol without reasonable excuse after making the salute during a soccer match. They have appealed against the ruling.
Another three men pleaded not guilty in a Sydney court in September to allegations of performing Nazi salutes outside an inner-city Jewish museum in 2023.
-with AAP