The Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry (ECAJ), the peak rep­re­sen­ta­tive body of the Aus­tralian Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty, has wel­comed the Fed­er­al government’s announce­ment that it will intro­duce leg­is­la­tion to crim­i­nalise pub­lic dis­plays of the Nazi Hak­enkreuz and the Schutzstaffel hate sym­bols and ban the trade in these items.

“This leg­is­la­tion will imple­ment rec­om­men­da­tions made by the ECAJ to the recent par­lia­men­tary Inquiry into the dis­play of Nazi sym­bols”, said ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim. “We appre­ci­ate the gov­ern­ment mov­ing on this issue, and heed­ing the voice of our com­mu­ni­ty.”

“We espe­cial­ly wel­come the pro­pos­als to ban the trade in items fea­tur­ing cer­tain Nazi sym­bols, and to empow­er the police to issue direc­tions to remove Nazi sym­bols from pub­lic dis­play, as advo­cat­ed express­ly in the ECAJ’s sub­mis­sion to par­lia­ment”, Mr Wertheim said.

The ECAJ has also expressed con­cern direct­ly to the Attor­ney-Gen­er­al that the pro­hi­bi­tions will be lim­it­ed only to the hak­enkreuz and Schutzstaffel sym­bols (SS light­ning bolts).

“Our con­cern is that neo-Nazi groups will cir­cum­vent the leg­is­la­tion sim­ply by using the Totenkopf (deaths head), sonen­rad (sun wheel) and oth­er well-known Nazi sym­bols instead of the two pro­hib­it­ed sym­bols. We have urged the gov­ern­ment to review the leg­is­la­tion peri­od­i­cal­ly so that if our con­cerns are borne out, the pro­hi­bi­tions may in due course be extend­ed to the dis­play of oth­er Nazi sym­bols.”

Anoth­er con­cern expressed by the ECAJ is the absence of any pro­hi­bi­tions on the per­for­mance of Nazi ges­tures such as the Nazi salute. “This will leave a gap that will need to be filled by State and Ter­ri­to­ry leg­is­la­tion,” Mr Wertheim con­clud­ed.

Con­tact:
Peter Wertheim AM | co-Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au