Amid the growing threat of far-right extremism in Australia, Victoria recently became the first state to ban the Nazi swastika, (known as the Hakenkreuz). Publicly displaying the symbol is now a criminal offence and carries a penalty of up to $22,000, or 12 months of imprisonment.
Other states and territories, including NSW, Queensland, the ACT, Tasmania and most recently, Western Australia, are now taking similar steps.
These moves have been praised as a critical step toward depriving far-right extremists the use of a potent symbol associated with hatred, racism and the horrors of the Holocaust to intimidate and spread fear.
