Does Peter Dutton read the legislation he votes for? This week he is outraged at the thought that protesters who brandished Hezbollah flags and photos of its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah may not automatically have committed a federal crime. Here, he’s referring to laws passed in January, which ban the display of Nazi and terrorist symbols.

Dutton wanted police to throw that particular book at these protesters until the Australian Federal Police pointed out it isn’t that simple. The legislation banning these symbols only applies where displaying them amounts to something like incitement or vilification.

Credit: Illustration: Simon Letch

Now, it’s entirely possible that threshold was crossed here, which is why police are investigating six cases for the moment. But the point is there is a threshold to be crossed. Dutton seems outraged there is a threshold at all. Which is quite something because he voted for exactly that.

It isn’t hiding, either. It’s not in some obscure nook or cranny. It is right there, clear as day, in the very section that creates the offence in the first place (section 80.2HA of the Criminal Code for those playing at home). In fact, it’s there twice: once in relation to terrorist symbols and once in relation to Nazi ones.

It was there in the very first draft of the bill. That bill was amended more than once. To begin with, it banned only Nazi and Islamic State symbols, but was later broadened to include all listed terrorist groups. But at no point was that threshold challenged or removed. While the Coalition........

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