The federal government will ban Nazi symbols with a punishment of up to a year in prison but it will not ban the Nazi salute, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has revealed.
The reform follows a storm of controversy in March over what Dreyfus called a failure by the Coalition to condemn people who used a Nazi salute at an anti-trans rights rally on the steps of the Victorian parliament in Melbourne. In response the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, proposed to ban all forms of Nazi glorification, including salutes and symbols.
Dreyfus will introduce a bill next week to make it an offence to publicly display the Nazi Hakenkreuz – the swastika – and the SS Schutzstaffel symbol, or things that closely resemble them.
The ban includes flags, armbands, T-shirts, insignia and the use of these symbols on websites promoting the Nazi ideology.
The legislation will also prohibit the display and trade in Nazi memorabilia, making it an offence to seek to profit from such material in stores or online. It will not ban private ownership or transfers of artefacts that are not-for-profit.
The swastika ban does not apply to religious uses including its use in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Further exemptions will apply to academic, educational, artistic, literary, journalistic or scientific purposes.
“There is no place in Australia for symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust,” Dreyfus said. “And we will no longer allow people to profit from the display and sale of items which celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology.
“The Albanese government is sending the clearest possible signal to those who seek to spread hatred, violence and antisemitism that we find these actions repugnant and they will not be tolerated.”
The government has drawn the line at legislating against the Nazi salute, believing that policing it and therefore potentially criminalising it is a matter for the states and territories.
“We have taken the necessary time to get this bill right. It is vital this legislation is well-targeted and effective,” Dreyfus said.
Dvir Abramovich, the chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said the ban was “history in the making” and a “joyful and profound moment that represents the culmination of a six-year personal campaign to defeat homegrown neo-Nazis who seek to keep Hitler’s legacy alive”.
Abramovich said it was a blow to the “resurgent neo-Nazi movement that will now realise that the law is no longer on its side” as law enforcement will have “the tools they have been asking for”.
“This announcement is also a booming tribute to our valiant diggers who fought to vanquish the Third Reich, the six million Jews and millions of victims murdered by the Nazis and the survivors who rebuilt their lives here.”
The Labor MP Josh Burns said the use of the Nazi symbol at the Melbourne rally had galvanised governments to act.
“Personally it was confronting to see such a brazen display of neo-Nazi hate and glorification in our beautiful city,” Burns told Guardian Australia.
“What has happened since that ugly display is governments have been galvanised to strengthen legislation to outlaw brazen glorification and profiteering off this neo-Nazi hate.”
