Hitler moustaches, devil horns and the words “right wing facist (sic)” have appeared on posters of Josh Frydenberg in his Melbourne electorate of Kooyong, with the Treasurer slamming the defacing as a “cowardly and criminal act”.
Textas were used to deface a number of posters of the Jewish MP in Hawthorn overnight.
Prime minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Saturday the vandalism was “appalling”, and called for anyone with information about the matter to co-operate with authorities.
“This is about crimes and hate … this should have no place in our elections, absolutely no place,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Frydenberg tweeted his abhorrence to the “cowardly and criminal act” and said the incident was “about a broader and disturbing trend in society of anti-Semitism and intolerance”.
“The latest act of vandalism in Kooyong using Nazi symbols on a billboard of mine is an insult to every victim of the Holocaust and Australian servicemen and women who fought against Nazi tyranny,” he said.
Mr Frydenberg’s mother was a Hungarian Jew who arrived in Australia as a stateless child after escaping the Holocaust.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said the “escalating virus of intolerance has to stop”.
“We deplore these ugly actions for what they are: a repulsive and hateful assault on our democratic system and on our core principles,” he said in a statement.
Read the article in The Australian (AAP),