Mr 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 one 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 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.