The Mercury on Thursday revealed the existence of a cell of right-wing extremists linked to anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic and transphobic activity.

Members of Tasman Forth posed giving Nazi salutes and videos of a transgender flag being vandalised at Town Hall in Hobart, and of stickers bearing fascist symbols near where Nazi graffiti was reported in Launceston in mid-2022.

Mr Rockliff said his government was keen to pass legislation banning the display of Nazi insignia and salutes.

“There are some national discussion around extremist, right wing groups, which I have been briefed on, but can I say that this behaviour is highly offensive,” Mr Rockliff said. “It has no place in the Tasmanian community or anywhere across the world.

“That’s why we are tabling legislation to address the matters around symbols and salutes as well, which is nation-leading legislation.”

A group of men who appeared at an anti-transgender rally in Melbourne earlier this month provoked community outrage by giving Nazi salutes. Victoria has announced plans to also ban the salute.

Tasmania’s dark neo-Nazi underworld exposed in secret messages

A Tasmania cell of neo-Nazis has been pictured placing fascist symbols on public infrastructure, vandalising a transgender flag at Hobart Town Hall and giving the Heil Hitler salute.

It comes as the state government tabled legislation to ban Nazi symbols and salutes associated with Hitler’s genocidal regime.

Researchers from the anti-fascist White Rose Society have monitored communication between members of Tasman Forth on the secure messaging app Telegram since mid-2021.

Tasman Forth is named after a pen name used by Tasmanian fascist Alexander Rud Mills, who died in 1964

The group has fashioned its own flag featuring three lions, which has been spotted at a national gathering of far-right extremists interstate and at locations around Tasmania.

The White Rose researchers noted that the group “regularly posts anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic and transphobic content”.

In one post, one of the participants writes: “Either put us in prison or kill us, there’s no other way that we are going to give up”.

The group posted a video of a transgender flag being vandalised at Town Hall in Hobart in November 2021 and of stickers bearing fascist symbols near where Nazi graffiti was reported in Launceston in mid-2022.

Late last year, the group’s flag was pictured at a far-right National Socialist Network (NSN) gathering in Melbourne next to a banner proclaiming “Australia for the White Man”.

Another post shows three masked members of the group posing with the flag near Salamanca Place. One is giving the Nazi salute.

Other images show members celebrating Oktoberfest in lederhosen, celebrating Australia Day dressed as colonists armed with wooden rifles, and with fascist and Australian flags in various locations.

The state government on Wednesday tabled legislation to outlaw the display of Nazi symbols and ban the Nazi salute.

Penalties include fines and jail time for repeat offenders.

A White Rose Society representative said the group appeared to be small, but was a concern because of their antipathy towards “Jews, Muslims, the LGBT community, women, and anyone to the left of Mussolini”.

“The ideology that these groups subscribe to is a dangerous one – we’ve seen the extreme end of it in Christchurch in 2019,” they said.

“NSN members regularly celebrate the Christchurch massacre.

“We’ve also seen NSN members participating in online chatrooms where incredibly explicit terror manuals are being shared alongside dehumanising and despicable rhetoric.

“These groups take part in Nazi stickering and graffiti in order to create an environment where those they consider undesirable feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. They feel emboldened to do this by anonymity.

“We hope that by pulling off those masks they might feel a bit less confident about spreading hate in our communities.”

A group of neo-Nazis attended an anti-transgender rally in Melbourne on May 29, and gave Nazi salutes.

Hobart Hebrew Congregation president Jeff Schneider said any display of support for Nazism was concerning.

“We saw what happened in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago,” he said.

“It’s pretty harrowing in this day and age that people are able to make those gestures and displays.

“We thought that the horrors of what happened in the 1930s and ‘40s were behind us.”

He welcomed the state government’s legislation.

“We’ve very appreciative of Minister Archer the Attorney-General bringing forward this legislation and the members of parliament who support it,” he said.

“I think the government passing this legislation shows how harmful the meaning behind these symbols is — not only for the Jewish community but also the LGBTQI+ community.

“Nobody should be confronted with this type of hate.”

Rodney Croome from Equality Tasmania was briefed by the White Rose Society before a similar rally in Hobart the following Tuesday.

“They’d seen from the chat groups they were going to turn up at the Posie Parker rallies in Melbourne and maybe Hobart,” he said.

Mr Croome said he passed the information on to his colleagues. Nobody matching the descriptions of the group was seen.

He said there had been Nazi-branded harassment of gay and lesbian people in Tasmania over the years, although the focus of late had shifted to transgender people.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Elise Archer has today tabled the Police Offences Amendment (Nazi Symbol and Gesture Prohibition) Bill 2023 in the House of Assembly.

“I am strongly committed to ensuring our laws appropriately reflect community expectations, and we know that such Nazi displays are a blatant breach of both our moral and community standards,” she said.

“Further, following the recent disturbing use of the Nazi salute during a demonstration in Victoria, the Bill will also prohibit the use of the Nazi salute.”

Labor’s Ella Haddad welcomed the bill.

“There is no place in Tasmania for abhorrent behaviour that causes division within our community,” she said.

david.killick@news.com.au