A Croatian club discriminated against a Canberra man when its board knocked back a membership application after photographs emerged that linked him to the Nazi flag, a tribunal has found.
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Danijel Kovac claimed the Australian Croatian Club in Turner refused to accept him as a voting member in December 2011 because he had different political views to many of the board's members.
Mr Kovac took the matter to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal on grounds he had been discriminated against due to his beliefs.
The club's board lost a bid to have the matter thrown out of court because it was frivolous and vexatious, and lacked substance.
Board members argued a series of Facebook posts in which Mr Kovac attacked the club, and photographs that associated him with a Nazi flag, showed he was of ''unsuitable character''.
Mr Kovac, a former club vice-president, had been involved in a continuing dispute that saw a series of politically sensitive portraits of past Croatian leaders moved in 2008 from the venue's main hall to a private members area.
In late 2008, an interim board president found several photographs at the club that had been taken while Mr Kovac was on holidays in 2007.
Two of the photos showed people Mr Kovac knew holding the Republic of Croatia flag in one hand and the Nazi flag in the other.
Mr Kovac's brother had his membership suspended after he was drunk and became violent towards two board members at a wedding at the club in late 2010.
Mr Kovac later posted on Facebook under the pseudonym Justin Case, alleging the club's bar staff served drinks while they were drunk, and organising a protest against the removal of the pictures from the main hall.
The board refused his application in late 2011 for voting membership.
He was told he could only be a social member if he abided by ''truly Croatian values''.
Mr Kovac took the matter to the ACT Human Rights Commission, which found the matter raised issues of discrimination on the basis of political conviction.
Commissioner Helen Watchirs referred the matter to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal for hearing.
The club's board members argued there was no proof their decision was due to Mr Kovac's political convictions, and said they denied the application because of a series of ''antisocial behaviours'' they feared could damage the club's reputation among the capital's small Croatian community.
Mr Kovac had defended his political views as moderate, as opposed to right-wing, and motivated by ''moral standards and commonsense''.
Tribunal presidential member Peta Spender acknowledged the board had not ''necessarily held a right-wing, totalitarian political view''.
However, she noted the board's political beliefs appeared to be contrary to Mr Kovac's own convictions.
The tribunal upheld the complaint and found the board members were aware of Mr Kovac's political views and that was partly why his application was refused.
It found the club's board had acted unlawfully under the Discrimination Act.
