Thursday, 6 February 2020

Adjournment

Anti-Semitism

Mr SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (17:01): (1837) I raise a matter for the attention of the Premier. The action that I request is for the Premier to look at his government joining the opposition to ban the public display of the Nazi swastika and other Nazi symbols in Victoria and work with the opposition to draft legislation for Parliament as soon as possible. Seventy-five years on from one of the worst atrocities known to mankind, the Holocaust, unfortunately we are seeing terrible reminders in our community. There is no other symbol we are see that represents hatred as does the Nazi swastika. Unfortunately when you see that symbol of the past being reflected in the present, it is a reminder that something must be done.

When we see a 30 per cent increase in anti-Semitism in Australia and racial attacks on the increase, we need to ensure that something is done to ensure that our community is protected. My electorate of Caulfield has the largest Jewish community in Australia, and Melbourne has the largest Holocaust survivor population per capita outside of Israel. Obviously we get our fair share of hate attacks. Certainly a week does not go by without us seeing some kind of attack on the Jewish community, including 12 months ago a Nazi swastika painted on Emmy Monash Aged Care facility, a facility that is the home of many Holocaust survivors.

But it is not limited to my electorate of Caulfield, and that is why the alarming increase has prompted the coalition to work to bring a ban on the swastika to the attention of this Parliament. We have seen only recently, in fact last week, somebody in Clarinda walking around the Woolworths supermarket wearing a Nazi swastika armband. We saw somebody in the Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre with a tattoo of a Nazi swastika wandering around the pool. But most recently the town of Beulah in western Victoria had that Nazi swastika flag flying for over a week next to the home of a Holocaust survivor. Police worked tirelessly with the local community to get that flag down, and it was taken down by bluff, because ultimately there are no laws in the state to protect a Holocaust survivor of 83 years of age that escaped Nazi Germany, came to Victoria, lives there and ultimately is threatened by this flag again.

More needs to be done to protect our community. This is not something that is partisan; this is something we need to work together on in this Parliament. I call on the Premier and the government to do what they can to work with the opposition to ultimately bring laws into this Parliament to see the swastika gone from this state of Victoria.