'Vindictive' vandalism sees hundreds of political signs destroyed

It's a hallmark of every Australian election.

WARNING: This story contains antisemitic and Islamophobic language and images

Thousands of campaign posters — cable-tied to fences and lining the streets — each emblazoned with a candidate's name and portrait.

And while stealing or vandalising corflutes isn't new, political experts are warning dirty tactics are becoming more common in some tight electorates.

Election signs have been marked with swastikas or offensive slurs, burned, vandalised, smeared with excrement, stomped on and shredded, especially in marginal seats.

A corflute promoting Warringah candidate Zali Stegall vandalised with pink lipstick.

Islamophobic comments left on a corflute for NSW Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi.

Offensive drawings covered a corflute promoting Mackellar candidate Sophie Scamps.

A member of the public caught removing corflutes promoting Sophie Scamps.

A corflute sliced into pieces and left on the ground.

Nazi swastikas drawn on the face of Wentworth candidate Ro Knox.

The words "a racist genocide supporter" left on a corflute for Ro Knox.

A corflute for Calare candidate Sam Farraway covered in red graffiti.

Politics lecturer Dr Blair Williams from Monash University said the high volume of reports, and their severity, was worrying.

"Much of what we're seeing on corflutes kind of relates to that increased polarisation, increased normalisation of hate speech," she said.

"It's not surprising that we're seeing that trickle down into politics on the streets."

Some vandals caught on camera

In the marginal seat of Mackellar in Sydney's north, independent MP Sophie Scamps said about 500 of her electoral signs had been "slashed and destroyed" over the past month.

Pictures circulating on social media show a man appearing to take down a number of Ms Scamps's posters and using a knife to shred them.

"People find such aggression at best puerile, at worst deeply threatening," Ms Scamps said.

"The electorate has been covered in bright yellow, denigrating and misleading posters and ads about me. After the actions of Professor Malham in Kooyong have illustrated, I'm not sure we can say this is just healthy democracy."

Ms Scamps was referring to Melbourne neurosurgeon, Professor Greg Malham, after a video circulated of a man tearing down a poster of independent MP Monique Ryan in the marginal Melbourne seat of Kooyong.

Nine Newspapers reported Professor Malham admitted to being the man in the video and apologised.

Ms Ryan told the ABC the video was "deeply concerning" but was far from an isolated incident.

"We've seen groups from both within and outside Kooyong stoking division through aggressively negative advertising," she said.

"It's creating a climate of hostility that is distressing to candidates, volunteers, and the broader community."

"There's no place in Australian electoral campaigns or society for violence and aggression."

Ms Ryan said more than 200 of her corflutes had been torn down and defaced, sometimes with very distressing messages or symbols put on them.

"It's been a really tough election campaign nationally, things are heightened, and there's a lot of tension," she said.

Ms Ryan herself copped criticism earlier in the campaign, after her husband was caught on video removing a sign of her Liberal opponent Amelia Hamer.

Peter Jordan apologised for the incident, saying he believed the sign was illegally placed.

'Violent' vandalism and incidents of physical assault

Some attacks on signage have also turned physically violent.

In Ashfield in Sydney's inner west, a 79-year-old man was taken to hospital in a serious condition after an alleged assault outside a polling booth in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's electorate of Grayndler.

The ABC understands the elderly man was confronted after defacing one of Mr Albanese's corflutes. A 17-year-old boy has been charged over the incident.

Elsewhere in Sydney, in the seat of Bennelong, a 30-year-old man was charged with intimidation after kicking a number of signs and allegedly becoming aggressive towards volunteers at the booth.

A number of police investigations have been conducted in the hotly-contested seat of Calare in the New South Wales Central West, where the Nationals are hoping to win against sitting independent Andrew Gee.

In a statement, Detective Inspector Jason Darcy said there had been examples of malicious damage and people being abusive to others at a number of polling centres across NSW "due to heightened emotions ahead of the federal election".

"The message is clear — this is not what police want to see and there will be no tolerance for any behaviour that could harm others at any time anywhere," Detective Inspector Darcy said.

"It is disappointing when it seems to be conveying a bit of violence," independent candidate Kate Hook said.

Other corflutes in the electorate have been targeted with racist remarks or stolen, while Nazi symbols have been scrawled on billboards.

In another marginal seat, Liberal candidate for Wentworth Ro Knox has also had hundreds of posters vandalised or stolen — some even set on fire or smeared with animal faeces.

Many in the Sydney seat, currently held by independent Allegra Spender, have also been vandalised with anti-Semitic symbols and language.

Ms Knox said she understood many residents were fed up with the "poster wars", and pledged to not use campaign posters on public property in the next campaign if elected.

"We're all over the waste, the visual pollution, the silly games where people are tearing down and defacing posters," she said.

Deputy Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi, whose signs have been targeted, said the problem was getting worse.

"What's happening out there clearly goes beyond ordinary vandalism — this is politically motivated hate," she told the ABC.

Australian National University political marketing lecturer Andrew Hughes said the worst instances of vandalism appeared to be in seats with three of four candidates, particularly where a teal or independent candidate was running.

"All of a sudden a lot of these races are too hard to call so people revert to, sadly, aggressive behaviour like this to get their candidate elected again," he said.

"We have to accept we're entering a new era where traditional two-way races between major party candidates will become a thing of the past in some areas, even areas where we thought that wouldn't happen like Calare, like Wannon."

Mr Hughes said the behaviour actually worked against the candidate the vandal thought they were helping.

"You notice the sign left untouched and then people start thinking: 'Hang on, that party's playing dirty,'" he said.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party has also been targeted, with a man who hid his face with a mask caught on video slashing through candidate Stuart Bonds's corflutes in the electorate of Hunter in New South Wales.

Frustrated locals or far-right actors?

So who is behind the attacks? Dr Blair Williams said the culprits were likely a mix of bored teenagers, supporters of political opponents, and extremists. And in many instances, it's hard to tell.

"I can imagine some of the people stealing signs would be frustrated community members … whether it be the cost of living crisis or what's happening in Gaza," she said.

"But then there are the more insidious actors. In the last federal election some corflutes were defaced by neo-Nazi groups with neo-Nazi signage, and you're seeing some more hate speech vandalism as well this election."

With additional reporting by Xanthe Gregory.

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