Anyone performing the Nazi salute or caught trading memorabilia from Hitler’s Third Reich now faces one year in prison.
It is also unlawful to publicly display Nazi hate symbols, according to new counter-terror legislation which came into force today.
In a statement, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the legislation will ensure no one is allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols that celebrate the Nazis and their “evil ideology”.
“There is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts,” he said.
9News has reported how a Melbourne collectors shop was rushing to sell off its Nazi artefacts before the new legislation kicked in, a move the owner defended.
The legislation to criminalise the trade and display of Nazi symbols comes after several neo-Nazi rallies in Victoria last year.
Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and the ACT have already legislated criminal offences for public displays of Nazi symbols, with Victoria also banning public performances of the salute last October.
(9 NEWS)
