Palaszczuk government MP Don Brown reveals swastika painted on office

A Nazi swastika graffitied on a Palaszczuk government MP’s office has renewed a push for tougher penalties for hate crime offences.

Queensland Labor’s Don Brown has referred the disturbing act to police and authorities are sifting through CCTV footage of the member for Capalaba’s face being brandished with the notorious icon.

However, under current state laws, weak hate crime and racial vilification legislation means the perpetrator could only be charged with public nuisance offences if caught.

“The hate crime legislation should be amended to ban Nazi symbols in all forms,” Mr Brown told NCA NewsWire.

Queensland laws to prosecute offensive acts are currently being reviewed by lawmakers through the serious vilification and hate crimes committee, which is due to hand down its report to state parliament in January.

The legal affairs committee has been flooded with more than 80 submissions detailing horrific instances of racial abuse in Queensland and it was widely hoped it would recommend criminal offences after a disturbing sequence of the swastika emblem being publicly paraded.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the state government was committed to updating laws to prosecute racial abuse and vilification.

“We acted quickly to refer the issue to the parliamentary legal affairs and safety committee to look at how we can strengthen our laws to protect Queenslanders, because hate crimes have no place in our community,” she said in a statement to NCA NewsWire.

“We have also referred the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 to the Queensland Human Rights Commission for review because a lot has changed in 30 years and we need to make sure our laws protect and promote equality for our diverse communities.”

The graffiti on Mr Brown’s office infuriated Road and Transport Minister Mark Bailey, who described the act as “disgraceful”.

“(There is) no place for this vandalism and fascism,” he posted on social media.

Atrocities in recent years was evidence of the link between those who “brazenly and proudly weaponise” the symbol with individuals and groups who commit horrific violence, according to Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich.

“In the aftermath of the massacres in Christchurch, Halle, El Paso, San Diego and Pittsburgh, and a dramatic surge in antisemitism in Australia, we should be alarmed about anyone who so openly identifies with the unspeakable crimes of the Third Reich, since we know that a belief in such a dangerous ideology can lead to real-life violence,” he said.

“I call on the Queensland government and the opposition to lock arms and to immediately pass legislation that bans the public display of any Nazi insignia and make its usage in any vandalism a hate crime.”

Last month, Queensland police charged a man with public nuisance offences after he displayed a swastika flag above a Brisbane synagogue.

The flag’s appearance disgusted the city’s Lord Mayor, Adrian Schrinner, who joined the calls for tougher penalties for the use of hate symbols.

The swastika is the symbol of the Nazi party, the far-right anti-Semitic German political party responsible for the murder of six million Jews during World War II.

The flag-flying continued the use of Nazi imagery in Queensland in recent months – including graffiti at the Clapham rail yard at Moorooka in May – and comes as law enforcement bodies raise concerns over rising far-right extremism in Australia.

Mr Schrinner shared a photo of the flag at the time, along with his disgust over its appearance.

“This is sickening,” he wrote. “For someone to fly this symbol of hatred and genocide right above the Brisbane Synagogue on Margaret St is pure evil. It’s time for this vile flag to be banned in Queensland.”