Council accused of "endorsing criminals" after statue vandalised
The Yarra City Council has been accused of pandering to those who vandalised a statue of Captain Cook in the days before Australia Day.
In the early hours of the morning on January 25th, a statue of the British colonist was sawn off at the ankles, while "The colony will fall" was spray-painted on the stone column.
Now, the Victorian city council will vote on whether to remove the statue for good, with one councillor claiming that replacing it would be a "waste of money".
However, a spokesperson for local residents said "giving in" to vandals would only encourage such destructive behaviour.
"If you're going to let vandals and criminals win, then you might as well give up altogether," Adam Promnitz, founder of the Yarra Residents Collective, told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
While Mr Promnitz admitted there were changing conversations around Australia Day in the inner Melbourne are,a he said this was the wrong way to have a discussion about removing the 110-year-old statue.
"This isn't the right way to do things," he said.
"You don't just get your own way by being destructive and anti-social and causing criminal damage."
"How can it be a good outcome for any body when it is basically a green light for vandals and criminals everywhere that we'll let you get away with what you want and you'll get what you want if you behave like this?"
Councillor Stephen Jolly said the majority of the council didn't share this view, telling the Herald Sun that replacing the statue would come at a cost that would better spent elsewhere in the community.
"Even people who love Captain Cook, who love Australia Day, will see that repairing a statue that costs thousands to fix isn't the most important thing to spend money on," Cr Jolly said.
"Residents want better bin services, more childcare services, cheaper swimming pools."
"All of these things are a better way of spending the money [than] on a statue that we know is absolutely certain is going to get ripped down again."
Image credits: 9News