Complaints system overhauled after ‘hateful, anti-Semitic’ number plate spotted on Sydney roads

Complaints about offensive custom licence plates will be immediately sent to transport authorities instead of being reviewed on a monthly basis, after a plate allegedly glorifying the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel was not acted upon.

The anti – Semitic number plate which has somehow made it through and has been seen on Sydney's roads, left, and two plates which were cancelled recently, top right and bottom right.

Complaints about offensive and anti-Semitic custom licence plates will be immediately sent to transport authorities the day they are made, with the plates being recalled in five business days after they have been reviewed.

The new policy comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed a custom licence plate allegedly glorifying the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel was not acted upon, despite at least one complaint being made last month.

Special plates provider myPlates, which provides all custom licence plates in NSW, received the complaint about personalised plates OCT7TH attached to a white Ford Ranger, but did not alert Transport for NSW due to internal processes where complaints were reviewed on a monthly basis.

A TfNSW spokesperson said the plate provider had immediately changed its policy and will now send all complaints to transport authorities on the date they are received.

Since September last year, authorities had tightened hate speech filters to capture offensive content but since the latest incident would look to improve that technology.

Premier Chris Minns has slammed the owner of the offensive number plate. Picture: Nikki Short

“Transport for NSW is now looking at using AI technology to improve detection of offensive alphanumeric combinations at the time of order,” the spokesperson said.

Premier Chris Minns said he believed a letter had been delivered to the vehicle owner, who had 48 hours to return the plate before the car was deregistered.

Mr Minns said: “I don’t know what kind of sick person would have a personalised number plate for such a horrific massacre.”

‘Hateful, anti-Semitic’ plate complaint not acted on for weeks

A complaint regarding a “hateful” custom licence plate allegedly glorifying the October 7 Hamas attacks was not acted upon despite being made last month.

Special plates provider myPlates, which is responsible for providing all custom licence plates in NSW, received the complaint on January 23 about personalised plates OCT7TH attached to a white Ford Ranger ute.

Yet Transport for NSW was not made aware of the complaint until questions were put by to them by this masthead on Wednesday.

The personalised plates have been labelled as “sick” by members of the Jewish community, who believe it is a reference to the brutal attacks by Hamas in Israel last year, which saw 1200 Israelis killed.

The plates were registered six weeks after the October 7 attacks last year and expire on November 23 this year.

Vehicle registration OCT7TH seen on Sydney's roads on Wednesday.

But Road Minister John Graham said the registration of the vehicle will be cancelled within a week.

“Transport has acted immediately, as soon as I heard about this we issued an order for it to be recalled, that process used to take up to a month before plates could be called back in,” Mr Graham told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Thursday morning.

“(But) given the tensions around the world I wasn’t happy with that as roads minister, we’ve shortened that process and the request is now that these plates are in within 48 hours … if they don’t come back the registration will be cancelled altogether and the cars’ coming off the road.”

The registration for the plates was also completed two months after the Minns government vowed to crack down on anti-Semitic licence plates on NSW roads.

MyPlates, who charge $499 per year for custom plates, reviews complaints at a monthly meeting, with the next being held on February 20.

This means under myPlates current processes it could take up to a month before offensive plates are taken off the roads from when a complaint is made.

MyPlates chief executive David McGrath said the company would immediately review the way complaints were deal and with how hate speech was picked up.

“We are going to look at better ways to deal with complaints more rapidly and earlier,” he said.

“We need to look at the processes to how we pick up hate speech, looking at AI and different human intervention methods.”

The Nazi 88-SIEG number plate was been cancelled by Service NSW after NSW Police received complaints.

On Wednesday, Road Minister John Graham told The Daily Telegraph he had immediately instructed TfNSW to urgently issue a recall and cancel the licence plates.

“These plates are objectively offensive and there is no absolutely no place in NSW for hate speech,” he said.

“I have asked Transport to urgently review the circumstances in which this was approved. I apologise to any members of the community that have seen or been distressed by these number plates.

“We are urgently investigating the background of this case, and whether this is a deliberate act.”

Although automatic and manual filtering for hate speech are in place they did not detect the offensive content in this instance.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim slammed the response of governments in preventing these types of custom plates.

“Australians are fed up to the back teeth with having hateful and violent messages thrust into their faces by extremist groups and individuals who take any opportunity to promote their repugnant views,” he said.

“We have warned about this sort of misuse of licence plates previously – the measures taken by state and Territory transport authorities have clearly been inadequate.”

“It is time for these bodies to work together to put into effect a nationwide crackdown to stop this appalling practice once and for all.”

Transport for NSW announced in September last year that it would tighten its hate speech filters for number plates, after motorists reported a registration plate reading 88SIEG.

Sieg is German for “victory” while 88 is slang for Heil Hitler.

At the time, the Roads Minister instructed TfNSW to immediately tighten the system and the offending plates were quickly taken off the roads.

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