Neo-Nazi’s obviously didn’t get the memo that the Australian festival market it totally over-saturated as they’ve announced that they’ll be bringing a music festival for white supremacists this year to Brisbane.
According to The Courier Mail, Hammered Music Festival will be held in a secret location somewhere in Brisbane on 21st April and will feature race hate music from international and local bands. The event is being organised by the Southern Cross Hammerskins, the Australian arm of a worldwide neo-nazi group.
A statement on a white pride website announced the festival saying:
This years event is also celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Southern Cross Hammerskins in Australia! A worthwhile celebration and surely not one to be missed!! We have secured bands for the event and are working on adding more to the bill shortly, and we have this year decided to arrange day events for all, fun stuff like strongman comp, team tug of war and boxing and MMA bouts… fun stuff!!!
Fun stuff? Sure. No surprises that a number of organisations and individuals have come out against the event already, including Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Helen Szoke who told The Courier Mail “the theme of this music festival goes against Australia’s multicultural values. It’s an appalling set of beliefs that they have.”
She continued “The reality is a great majority of Australians are not racist and are comfortable with cultural and linguistic diversity.” Unlike Victoria and New South Wales, Queensland does not strong anti-vilification laws that makes racist acts such as these in public against the law. If organisers were to try and hold a similar event in either state they could fall foul of those laws.
The Queensland Police Service and the Brisbane City Council are aware of the event and a spokesperson said that as long as the festival-goers abide by the law police would not become involved. “Police are aware of the festival in question. However, until such a time that a law is broken or a complaint is made, it is not a police issue,” the spokesperson said.
As a member of the media we think the freedom of speech is important, but we also believe in the power of people voting with their feet. We will be looking into the festival to try and find out who the contractors are who will be servicing event so we can publicly name and shame them. We think it is important that members of the music community are made aware of who they are working with.
If you have any details about the festival or any music contractors who are working with the event you can let us know by emailing [email protected]
