Flagman’s world of flags

South Australia’s Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has ridden his bike, with an Australian flag displayed, to an Adelaide house where the Nazi flag has been on display.

Mr Atkinson spoke with a resident there about their action.

“There is a law against inciting racial hatred and it’s conjectural whether this would fit this law,” he said.

SA Premier Mike Rann has condemned displaying the Nazi flag in Australian society.

“Anyone who flies the Nazi flag, in my view, is un-Australian,” he said.

“Anyone who flies the Nazi flag, in my view, doesn’t deserve to have the protections that our diggers fought for.

“What kind of bonehead would fly the Nazi flag?”

Lawyer George Mancini chairs the Council for Civil Liberties and says it is hard to say whether a prosecution for flying the Nazi flag would succeed under racial vilification laws.

“I think it would technically in some respects suggest that we’re restricting people’s freedom to display a flag like that,” he said.

“I think in our society we can tolerate that. We don’t necessarily support it or agree with it.”

A resident of the house at suburban Croydon says the flag was left on display after a drunken party. It has now been taken down.