Swastika bans, hate tattoos and the pub workers who spat in a neo-Nazi’s beer

NSW has passed a law to ban swastikas; in Victoria pub workers took matters into their own hands.

NSW has joined Victoria in passing a law to ban the display of the swastika as a hate symbol in public. Queensland and Tasmania are pledged to follow.

The need for the law was emphasised earlier this month when Jimeone Roberts, 29, was convicted of creating a public nuisance after he plastered Melbourne's most Jewish suburb with more than 50 swastika stickers, the day after the Victorian government introduced legislation to criminalise public use of the hate symbol. Roberts, 29, is affiliated with the Australian far-right organisation National Socialist Network.

Roberts caused a problem again last week when his display of tattoos with Nazi symbols antagonised pub workers at the Irish Times Pub in Melbourne.

Pub management allege the workers spat into Roberts' beer. They sacked the workers and issued an apology to Roberts and to some of his associates.

The neo-Nazi members then bragged on secret and encrypted Far Right social media channels that the Irish Times Pub manager, Nitin Parashar, handed over $651 after they threatened the pub with complaints to regulators and flooded Google with negative reviews.

The number 51 is used by neo-Nazis to reference the number of victims in the Christchurch massacre.

Footage of the aftermath of the incident shows a male bartender being verbally confronted by the group of men.

“You started it when you got those tattoos,” the bartender told Roberts. “I’d like it if you’d leave.”

In response to criticisms over the sacking of the staff, The Irish Times Pub issued a statement saying it won't tolerate poor behaviour from its staff but it will also ban from the pub Nazi symbols and tattoos in future.

"As a small business, still recovering from the impacts of COVID 19, we followed the legal advice in taking disciplinary action for the unprofessional conduct of our staff for spitting in a paying customer’s beer. We do not want to be in the center of any political views or topics," the statement said.