Anti-Nazi laws could be 'straightened out' after rally
NSW may look to other states' bans on Nazi salutes in a quest to remove any ambiguity in laws that ban the display of related hate symbols in public.
About 50 people attended a white supremacist rally in the small Murray River town of Corowa on Saturday, sparking calls for NSW to join other states in explicitly banning the Nazi salute.
It is a criminal offence in NSW to knowingly display a Nazi symbol in public without a reasonable excuse.
The state does not have a specific ban on gestures such as the heil Hitler salute, although people have successfully been prosecuted over the act.
Premier Chris Minns said he believed the Nazi salute was covered by existing laws but vowed to strengthen them if necessary.
"If there's any ambiguity, we will straighten it out, because I'm not going to allow racism, anti-Semitism, or some kind of remembrance of this horrific period in human history," he told reporters on Monday.
Mr Minns said the conduct of people at the rally, which featured a neo-Nazi banner, was "completely obnoxious."
"I think the people who participated in those rallies have brought shame on themselves and their families," Mr Minns said.
"This is not a reflection on the vast majority of people that live in NSW, who are committed to anti-racism."
No arrests were made at the rally but investigations continued, police said on Sunday.
Deputy federal opposition leader Sussan Ley, whose electorate includes Corowa, said if the men carried Nazi symbols or performed the salute then they should be charged.
"I was told that they stepped across the border because it was easier to say and do and show the things ... in NSW," she told ABC Radio.
"It comes down to state governments being tough on this stuff."
Federal laws came into force in January that banned the display of symbols such as the swastika and the performance of the Nazi salute in public, following similar prohibitions on the gesture at a state level in Victoria and Tasmania.
Earlier in October, Jacob Hersant, 25, became the first Victorian found guilty of intentionally performing the Nazi salute.
Three men were convicted in NSW in June of displaying a Nazi symbol without reasonable excuse after making the salute during a soccer match, a decision they have appealed.
Another three men pleaded not guilty in a Sydney court in September on allegations they performed Nazi salutes outside an inner-city Jewish museum in 2023.