South Australian government says Nazi flag is offensive but not illegal

And that's a distinction that seems to have been lost in lots of places. This episode is a pretty good test of the right to free expression in Australia. And Australia does not even have a First Amendment to fall back on:

"There is little the South Australian government can do to stop an Adelaide man flying a Nazi flag on his property. State Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said that while the flag was in very bad taste, the issue was one of freedom of expression.

"I assume that the tenants are that 1 per cent type people who just like to shock and disgust, like they've managed to do," he told ABC Radio. "Unless one can argue that it incites racial hatred, then I suspect it's a matter of free speech, free expression."

Yesterday, the suburban Croydon man forced a Nine Network crew off his property and gave no reason why he was flying the flag.

But the RSL [veterans' organization] has called it sickening, saying the flag was a symbol of a regime that took the world to war in 1939 costing millions of lives, including those of 40,000 Australian servicemen and women. "Australians will be rightly offended by this and most veterans are grossly offended by it," said RSL national president Bill Crews.

Source

Australians have a right to be proud that even this is tolerated. Australia and the USA may be the only countries where it would be. The guy would not last 5 minutes in Canada, Britain or Germany.

He subsequently took the flag down and said it was just a drunken prank.