NSW has become the second state to ban Nazi symbols, as an alleged extortion scheme is exposed in a dispute over a far-right tattoo in Melbourne.
What we know:
- Knowingly displaying Nazi flags or memorabilia bearing swastikas has been outlawed in NSW, after the state’s upper house passed new laws overnight (The New Daily);
- Offenders face up to a year’s jail or a possible fine of more than $100,000, but the swastika can still be used in academic, historical and educational settings;
- “Nazi symbols are a gateway to violence and are used as a recruitment tool by extremists,” said NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Darren Bark;
- NSW is the second state in Australia to pass the landmark legislation after Victoria in June (SBS);
- It comes amid revelations a Melbourne neo-Nazi allegedly extorted hundreds of dollars from a city publican after a staff member recognised a far-right tattoo on the shoulder of a patron and spat in their drink (The Age);
- Neo-Nazis bragged on encrypted social media channels that Irish Times Pub manager Nitin Parashar handed over $651 after they threatened the pub with complaints to regulators and flooded Google with negative reviews;
- The number 51 in the monetary request holds significance for the group because it is the number of victims in the Christchurch massacre;
- The tattoo recognised by bar staff, the Nazi icon the “black sun”, was on the right shoulder of Nazi sympathiser Jimeone Roberts as he drank at the pub;
- The day before Roberts was convicted of public nuisance after posting more than 50 swastikas in one suburb the day after the Victorian government introduced legislation to ban the hate symbol.
Read the item by Max Opray in The Saturday Paper.