A proposed plan to federally criminalise the public display of Nazi symbols could face major challenges when prosecuting online activity, the Australian Federal Police and Department of Home Affairs have told a parliamentary inquiry.
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Several experts from across the nation were called to give evidence before a federal parliamentary hearing into proposed laws to make the display of Nazi symbols a criminal offence.
The bill was introduced to the Senate by Senator Michaelia Cash in March this year amid the growing threat of far-right extremism in Australia.
Under the proposed laws, a person who knowingly displays a Nazi symbol would be faced with a fine of up to $27,500 and a maximum of 12 months imprisonment.
Victoria led the way in banning the Nazi swastika in June last year, which prompted other states and territories including New South Wales, Queensland, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia to follow suit.
The Victorian government is looking at amending the law to include gestures after a group of masked neo-Nazis performed the Nazi salute several times on the steps of Parliament House earlier this year.
Tuesday's inquiry heard the Nazi salute and swastika were universally recognised messages of hate and genocide, which have been weaponised by far-right extremists at protests and rallies and used for recruitment and radicalisation in online spaces.
Terrorism threat 'diverse and complex'
The bill fails to set out how the proposed laws would apply in online spaces, leading experts before the committee to question how effective the legislation would be.
AFP Assistant Commissioner with Counter Terrorism and Special Investigations Krissy Barrett said police would support the bill, but enforcing it would be difficult.
"We anticipate violent extremist groups may adapt their behaviours and usage of symbols to avoid legislation sanction," she said.
"We envisage their adopting [of] innocuous widely used symbols, which may be difficult to enforce in practice."
Innocuous images such as cartoon Pepe the Frog and Monster energy drink cans have been cited as examples of symbols used by extremist groups.
Assistant Commissioner Barrett told the inquiry the threat of terrorism in Australia was becoming "increasingly diverse and complex", with cases of ideologically motivated violent extremism increasing in the past two to three years.
The concerns about enforcement are shared by the Department of Home Affairs, which described the current threat from Neo-Nazi groups as "complex, challenging and changing".
"The threat from religiously motivated violent extremists has moderated. The majority of ideologically motivated extremists are more likely to focus on recruitment and radicalisation rather than attack planning in the foreseeable future," department assistant secretary Robert O'Farrell said.
According to the AFP, religiously motivated violence has formed about 85 per cent of their workload since 2020, with ideologically motivated extremism at 15 per cent but increasing.
Young online gamers 'ripe' for radicalisation
AFP Counter Terrorism Commander Nicholas Read said children and young people had become particularly vulnerable to Nazi recruitment and extremist ideologies on online gaming platforms.
Children are exposed to "terror-type scenarios" alongside chat functions in gaming platforms that "creates a ripe environment for radicalisation," he told the inquiry.
"A game called Roblox was harbouring these individuals who were recreating scenes from Nazi Germany until it was put to a stop," he said.
The Online Hate Prevention Institute's Dr Andre Oboler said he supported civil penalties being imposed for perpetrators of online and offline activities but said they should be defined differently.
He said the sheer volume of hateful content online would pose a barrier to prosecution.
"There's too much of this content and it's too high a burden for it to be actually practically applied," he said.
"It's a little bit sad that right now you would get a higher penalty for putting your feet up on the seat on a train than you could for posting swastikas and other symbols that are promoting Neo-Nazis and other forms of extremism."
Calls for Nazi gestures to be included in law
The inquiry also heard evidence from Jewish community leaders, with some criticising the proposed legislation for not going far enough to effectively stamp out right-wing extremism.
Giving evidence, the Australian Jewish Democratic Society's Harold Zwier said the proposed law had "little connection to the current reality".
"Our concern is the legislation is performative, symbolic and somewhat off the target in dealing with current hatreds and potential for violence which extends far beyond holocaust symbolism," he said.
The Sydney Jewish Museum's Breann Fallon called for the bill to be expanded beyond the word "symbol" to include "ideological elements that aren't just a visual symbol," such as flags, insignia, uniform and forms of greeting.
"Our concern is around gesture and whether gesture is understood as a symbol, in particular the Hitler salutes," Dr Fallon told the hearing.
Assistant Commissioner Barrett conceded criminalising a Nazi gesture would be challenging to prosecute.
"A gesture can have multiple meanings as well," she said.
"It would depend on the action, for how long and what angle and all those technicalities to prove the intent of the gesture."
