The State Government introduced these laws in response to continuing reports of a rise in antisemitic incidents and anti-immigration activities by neo-Nazi groups around Australia.

Nazi symbols represent racist and hateful ideologies. They inflict trauma, fear and harassment on members of our community and are used to recruit and radicalise susceptible people to those ideologies.

The new laws bring South Australia in line with most other Australian states and territories and the Commonwealth.

The new laws will contain comprehensive defences for innocent uses of Nazi symbols including use in good faith for academic, educational, or artistic purposes, and for religious purposes such as the swastika used as a religious symbol of peace in Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain faiths.

A Parliamentary Select Committee established in 2022 heard evidence from SAPOL, the Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre, the History Trust of SA and other groups which formed a valuable basis for the drafting of the new laws.

Quotes attributable to Kyam Maher

South Australia is an inclusive, welcoming place that embraces diversity in all its forms.

The vast majority of South Australians are utterly appalled by the increased activity from the neo-Nazi movement around the country.

These new laws will impose tough new penalties on those who seek to promote this abhorrent ideology, and give police the powers they need to ensure prohibited symbols are swiftly removed.

These laws send a clear message that the use of these most widely recognised symbols of hate, violence, and intolerance, to incite division in the community, has no place in South Australia.

These laws will also help ensure our state remains a safe and inclusive place.

The Government recognises there are times when people use the image of the swastika in good faith – especially in certain religions – which is why there will be defences available when the symbol is used in good faith for religious, educational, or reporting purposes.