Victoria’s ban on Nazi symbols could be expanded to include other fascist symbols as the state government condemned displays of “hateful ideology” revealed in Australia’s large Croatian community.
The comments were in response to an investigation by this masthead that uncovered how major sporting and cultural clubs in the nation’s Croatian community openly celebrate fascist anniversaries and display emblems of the murderous Ustasha regime of 1941-45.
That included six men at the Melbourne Knights soccer club on April 10 this year – the anniversary of the creation of the Nazi-backed puppet state – doing fascist salutes as they sang a song extolling the Ustasha. The president of the Knights, Pave Jusup, is pictured in front of an Ustasha flag on two of his social media accounts. The Knights and Jusup have not responded to requests for comment.
State governments have in recent times introduced laws to ban the use of Nazi symbols, and the federal government will soon introduce similar legislation.
In New South Wales the laws are broadest, allowing discretion to the courts to define what a Nazi symbol is. Laws in Victoria – and ones expected to be introduced to federal parliament on Thursday – are narrower, proscribing a limited number of Nazi symbols.
Read the article by Ben Schneiders and Simone Fox Koob in WAToday.