Brimbank Council has no plans to install additional CCTV cameras in the heart of Sunshine after its new $600,000 statue Man lifting cow was tagged with a Nazi swastika earlier this month.
Less than four days after the statue was officially unveiled on Hampshire Road before hundreds of residents, a “Nazi war symbol” was left on the statue on the morning of September 10.
Statue artist, John Kelly, said he helped clean off the graffiti. “I will stay out of the swastika vandalism except to quote Indiana Jones: ‘Nazis – I hate these guys,’” he said.
Brimbank Council candidate and former Sunshine Business Association president Bruce White said the destruction of public property would not be solved by more cameras in Sunshine’s CBD however.
Brimbank Council has no cameras in the “immediate area” of the statue.
“It’s not the silver bullet,” Mr. White said.
“It’s another argument. It has its place; it has its purpose.
“Let’s not go into panic mode. This won’t happen regularly.”
He said graffiti on public art was common place.
“This type of thing can happen when a new sculpture is unveiled,” he said.
“Some arsehole did it. Not some punk doing a tag.
“This wasn’t vandalism. It was politically motivated.”
He believed Hampshire Road was “better than it’s ever been: illumination is a more powerful approach than more cameras.”
Council Director Infrastructure and Environment Neil Whiteside said the graffiti was “disappointing.”
“There are no plans to install CCTV cameras in the area at this point in time,” he said.
The council regularly remove graffiti from 30 “priority sites” across the region.
