The growth of far-right extremism in Victoria and how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced it will be explored in a new report.
Victoria’s Legal and Social Issues Committee will hand down its final report on Tuesday after the due date was repeatedly pushed back.
The inquiry was announced in February following a neo-Nazi gathering in the Grampians in January 2021 and the erection of gallows outside parliament as MPs debated pandemic legislation in November.
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Liberty Victoria President Michael Stanton warned against sweeping reforms to combat the influence of far-right extremism during public hearings in June.
“We need to make sure that in responding to those confronting scenes … that we do not have a legislative response that throws the baby out with the bathwater,” he said.
The inquiry also probed the risk the movement poses to Victoria’s multicultural communities, as well as their methods of recruitment and communication.
In her appearance, Swinburne University researcher Belinda Barnet pushed for the expansion of mainstream social media platform regulations to encrypted apps and a national anti-racism strategy.
In June, Victoria became the first Australian state or territory to pass legislation to ban the intentional public display of the Nazi swastika.
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The ban will come into effect in late December following a six-month community education campaign.
With AAP. (Content has been tweaked for length and style.)
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
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