By Shelby Brooks, Tara Cosoleto Aap and Callum Godde Aap
Eastern Victoria Labor MP Harriet Shing has called out “abhorrent acts of hate” seen on the steps of Victorian Parliament over the weekend.
It comes after National Socialist Movement members repeatedly performed the Nazi salute on the steps of the Victorian parliament on Saturday at an anti-transgender rights rally.
Ms Shing, who also serves as Equality Minister, said the events caused a lot of trauma and hurt to members of the LGBTIQ+ community.
“Trans-Victorians have a really hard time of it. They experience stigma and discrimination every day in countless ways,” she said.
She condemned opposition leader John Pesutto for not taking action “until the Nazis showed up”.
“Mr Pesutto is more than happy to march in Pride, but when it comes to actually calling out behaviour that actually stigmatises and discriminates against trans-Victorians, he is no where to be found,” Ms Shing said.
“It’s not good enough… to fail to call out behaviour that victimises, villainises and weaponises against LGBTIQ+ people.”
At a press conference on Monday 20 March, Ms Shing not only questioned Mr Pesutto’s handling of Victorian upper house MP Moira Deeming who was present at the rally, but also of Liberal MP for Eastern Victoria Renee Heath.
“Last year before the election, Mr Pesutto indicated very clearly that Renee Heath would not have a place in the Liberal Party room and yet nine days later she was back and welcomed by Mr Pesutto into the fold of the Liberal Party.”
Mr Pesutto said the coalition worked with the government to ban the swastika and would do so again with the latest proposal.
“(The Nazi salute) is as much an incitement of hate and violence as the swastika itself,” Mr Pesutto told reporters on Monday.
“We would not take a different view, having led that process and then work with the government on that.”
Despite the existing laws, Equality Minister Harriet Shing said police still needed greater powers to deal with gestures and symbols that incite hatred.
“There is a need for change,” she said.
Legislation banning the Nazi salute in Victoria will be fast-tracked in state parliament but a change could still be months away.
Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes on Monday confirmed the government would expand legislation banning the Nazi swastika to include the salute.
Ms Symes described the behaviour as disgraceful and cowardly, noting the salute was being used to incite hatred.
She said the expanded legislation would ensure Victorians feel safe, welcome and included.
“We’ll look at how this can be done carefully, with considered consultation with a variety of groups and will have more to say on the details of this legislation as we undertake that,” Ms Symes said in a statement on Monday.
Those processes could take some time.
Victoria Police would not comment on the proposed changes, nor did it respond to questions on the alleged actions of officers during Saturday’s protest.
Melbourne Activist Legal Support has accused police of discrimination, alleging officers focused their control measures almost exclusively on the pro-trans groups.
There is also video circulating online of a police officer kneeing a person in the head during an arrest.
A Victoria Police spokesperson told AAP there have been no complaints received in relation to that incident.
Police Association of Victoria president Wayne Gatt said the short arrest video lacked context.
“I’m certainly not going to condemn the actions of individual officers who were thrust into quite a volatile melting pot of ideology,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne on Monday.
Mr Gatt said officers also felt ashamed they could not act against those who were performing the Nazi salute.
In Victoria, police can move on people for disturbing the peace and make arrests over offensive behaviour or incitement.
Banning the gesture will give law enforcement personnel the tools to act against neo-Nazis, Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said.
“There is no perfect cure for the disease of extremism but this law is a first good step,” he said in a statement.
But Monash University Holocaust expert David Slucki warned the changes would only reduce the presence of Nazi symbolism in public, rather than eradicate Nazism altogether.
“These Nazis will continue to target vulnerable groups,” the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation director said in a statement.
“It is incumbent on political and community leaders not to use those groups as political pawns, which only empowers these groups.”
There also needs to be more cautious reporting of such incidents so “tiny” groups of neo-Nazis are not given “outsized megaphones”, Prof Slucki said.
