An Australian mother is facing up to five years in jail for allegedly reposting videos and images containing Nazi symbols on social media platform X.
The 44-year-old woman was arrested on the NSW Central Coast on Thursday morning by an Australian Federal Police National Security Investigations (NSI) team, and her mobile phone was seized for forensic examination.
She was later charged with six counts of publicly displaying a prohibited Nazi symbol, a charge which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 months in jail, and a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
Police allege the woman reposted videos which included archival footage of Nazi Germany, and meme photos on six occasions between August 12 and September 21.
The first alleged repost was an image that said “love your race” and featured a sonnenrad (black sun) symbol and a Nazi swastika, according to police documents obtained by Noticer News.
On September 2 she allegedly reposted a video from a user called GaiusCaesar41AD that contained footage of Nazi rallies and military parades, which police allege “showed a white Nazi swastika on a black background with the words ‘we are everywhere'”.
On September 7 she allegedly reposted an image from a user called BashTheLeft that included a swastika, on September 14 she allegedly reposted an image from X user TheIronWarden that included a sonnenrad, and on September 15 she allegedly reposted a video that “depicted flags bearing [a] Nazi swastika”.
Finally on September 21 she allegedly reposted a infographic video that displayed a swastika and “promoted ideological positions commonly associated with National Socialism, including capital punishment, labour camps, book burning and removal of foreigners”, according to the police documents.
She was given a court attendance notice to appear in Gosford Local Court on December 3.
The mandatory minimum sentence for the Nazi symbols offence was brought in as part of new “hate speech” laws passed by both major parties after the Bondi Islamic terrorist attack.
The arrest came two days after a 73-year-old man was arrested by an NSI team in Sydney’s north for allegedly posting Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic content on social media.
The NSI teams are special units set up last year by AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett, who calls them her “flying squad of hate disruptors”, to target groups and individuals “causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion”.
Header image: A section of one of the videos allegedly reposted by the woman (X).
