James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

As a boy I read as much as I could about Simon Wiesenthal. He was a survivor of Nazi concentration camps and he was a survivor of a Nazi death march. As a survivor of the Holocaust, he spent his remaining life gathering information on Nazis and hunting Nazis. My family had no Jewish antecedents, but as a boy I could never understand the hatred towards those who were Jewish. I couldn't understand the hatred that Nazis exhibited towards their fellow citizens. And it was hate. As an adult and as a senator, I still can't understand that hatred—the hate towards those that are different. So I stand in this chamber and I cannot comprehend why any Australia would join the Nazi Party or give the Nazi salute.

I am proud that, in my family, my grandfather's brother, Uncle Gray, with the surname Schneider, who grew up on a farm in Queensland where German was spoken within living memory, joined the Australian Army to fight the Nazis. So I'm equally proud that, earlier today, Peter Dutton moved in the House of Representatives to bring in a bill to allow the member for Berowra, my friend Julian Leeser, to amend the Criminal Code to ban display of Nazi symbols. Mr Dutton said that Nazi symbols must be condemned whenever and wherever they are found. I would hope that all senators in this place and all members of the House of Representatives join with Mr Dutton and Mr Leeser, who is Jewish, to bring forward and support this bill.