Page 5223 - Week 16 - Thursday, 28 November 1991
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MR MOORE (12.12): I think this is an excellent amendment moved by Mr Collaery.
MR DUBY (12.12): There is something in this amendment that I have difficulties with.
Ms Follett: Mr Stevenson does not run this Assembly. You are obsessed with him.
MR DUBY: Absolutely. Let me say at the outset that I support completely the thrust of the amendments moved by Mr Collaery, but I have grave difficulties with a public act - for example, actions and gestures and the wearing or display of clothing, signs, flags, emblems and insignia, that are likely to cause offence to another racial group - being made illegal.
Mr Collaery: No, you have misinterpreted it.
MR DUBY: Perhaps I have, and I would like to have it explained to me. It seems to me that this would ban the giving of a Hitler salute, the wearing of Nazi insignia, et cetera. I do not believe that it is appropriate that those things should be banned. I personally like to see the people we are fighting in this matter.
I can think of circumstances right now where a group of people, for example, Croatian Canberrans carrying a Croatian flag, which is not a recognised international flag, could be claimed by some other members of the Balkan community to be an incitement to violence. I personally do not believe that that should be banned. Members of the Croatian community should be allowed to display a Croatian flag, whether other members of the community find it offensive or not.
Exactly the same thing could be said of a whole range of other political issues. I have grave doubts, and I wonder whether other members of the Assembly share those views, about the display of signs, flags, emblems and insignia. I can understand that it is appropriate that a sign that says "Jews out" or something like that should be banned; but, in my view, a flag or insignia should not be banned. People should be allowed to have what they call their rallying sign or whatever and, whether it is offensive to other people or not, it should not be banned.
Perhaps other members of the Assembly could guide me in this matter. I want to be absolutely certain that I am not banning the wearing of a storm-trooper's uniform with Nazi insignia on it. In the same way, I want to make sure that I am not banning even the old South Vietnamese flag. The way I read this, that could be put up as an incitement to racial hatred. I want to make sure that I do not participate in that.
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