The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Attorney-General on the topic of Neo-Nazi symbols.
Leave granted.
The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: As the Attorney would be well aware, in June this year this parliament passed laws providing for penalties of up to a year in prison or fines of up to $20,000 for the display of Nazi symbols. This week, as reported in InDaily on Sunday 8 September, in Flinders Street a masked group of men, or people, marched past a city refugee protest, carrying a banner proclaiming 'Australia for the white man' as well as the flag of the Neo-Nazi organisation National Socialist Network, a far-right group that is reportedly Australia's largest white supremacist organisation.
In a statement, SAPOL said it monitored the protest activity in Adelaide but 'did not observe the commission of offences'. My question, therefore, to the Attorney-General is: will regulations be made to cover the National Socialist Network flag, which is a Neo-Nazi symbol, under the prohibition of Nazi symbols?
The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector): I thank the honourable member for her question. That certainly will be looked at. The laws that we have passed in this parliament that are now in effect have regulation-making power, so we can include symbols that are not the Nazi Hakenkreuz, the swastika or the Nazi salute but are other symbols that are used as outward signs of hate and division in the community. I will certainly be asking the police whether the symbols that have been most recently used, as we saw in Adelaide, as the honourable member has pointed out, fall into that category. If so, that is something we will absolutely look at doing.
I have made a statement about this in the last couple of days, and the scenes on the streets of Adelaide on the weekend that the Hon. Tammy Franks has referred to were frankly disgraceful and cowardly and are not reflective of the broader South Australian community. I want to be very clear that it is our view, and I think it would be everyone's view in this parliament, that this sort of hateful, racist behaviour has no place in our city, in our state or in our country. South Australia has a proud reputation of being a community that is safe and welcoming, embracing diversity and differences—and this is not us.