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Just hours after Australia’s new hate crime laws passed, two historic Melbourne monuments were defaced with extremist slogans targeting Australians — providing a perfect test as to whether these laws will apply equally.

In what has almost become its own Australia Day ritual, several historic monuments have been targeted by black armband vandals ahead of the national holiday.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, the Pioneer Monument in Melbourne’s Flagstaff Gardens was toppled and spray-painted with the phrases “Death to Australia,” “The colony will fall,” and “Land Back”.

Also discovered on the remains of the 150-year-old landmark was an inverted red triangle referencing Hamas, which is a banned terrorist organisation in Australia.

Nearby, the 1950 Separation Memorial was defaced with the same slogans and symbols.

The attack was apparently timed not just to preempt Australia Day, but to ensure it was discovered on the National Day of Mourning for the victims of the Bondi terror attack.

According to various news reports, police have established a crime scene and launched an investigation.

And in timing that couldn’t be more perfect — indeed, mere hours before the attack — Australia’s Governor-General gave her assent to a shiny new Hate Crimes law that can be used to prosecute the vandals once they’re apprehended.

It will be used to prosecute these criminals, right?

I mean all week we’ve been hearing about how the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act 2026 will protect Australians from ‘hate crimes’ just like this — and why its passage was so urgent that the Prime Minister had to recall Parliament out of session, guillotine debate, and ram it through both Houses in a single sitting.

Unless I’m mistaken, the whole point of the bill was to protect Aussies from hate-motivated acts aimed at them because of their race, national or ethnic background.

I was told it would criminalise threats of violence against people or property when driven by hatred; make public incitement of hatred punishable if it could reasonably cause fear or intimidation; target the display of symbols linked to banned extremist organisations, especially when they’re used to promote fear or hostility; and force courts to treat hate as an aggravating factor, making penalties harsher when racial or national hostility is involved.

Perfect — and just in time for this latest act of national desecration.

No, I’m not trying to be clever.

It’s clear that the Melbourne vandals weren’t just protesting Australia Day. They were calling for the destruction and dissolution of Australia itself. They were attacking Australians as a people — whether caucasian Aussies for their Anglo-Celtic-Euro heritage, or all Australians, regardless of ethnicity, for our nationality. We’re talking about a real and deliberate threat to Australians as a people and to the very continuity of our nation.

As someone who has observed the decolonisation movement for many years and understands its long-term intentions, I for one feel personally violated and threatened.

That’s why I’ve gone ahead and formally reported the Melbourne attack as a hate crime to the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Human Rights Commission, detailing the threats, extremist symbolism and chilling impact it has had on me as someone who identifies with the targeted community.

Time will tell if my report will be taken seriously — though, from the AHRC side at least, I somehow doubt it. After all, Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman has publicly called Australia Day a “day of mourning” that “compounds racism” and claimed our institutions are “inherently affected by racism” and uphold “white power and privilege”.

Mr Sivaraman and the Hate Crimes Act are only the icing and sprinkles on the cake of a sprawling legal apparatus that gives special protection to politically favoured groups while leaving the rest of us wide open to bullying, humiliation and erasure.

Well I’m done with the two-tiered justice, and I sense that most commonsense Australians are too.

And while I hate the Hate Crimes Act (if it’s still lawful for me to do so), as long as a law like this exists, I encourage all Australians to call for its consistent application.

You might even like to submit your own report about the Melbourne vandalism to the AFP (afpinfo@afp.gov.au) and the AHRC (info@humanrights.gov.au) following my example, below.

Until we clearly, calmly and unrelentingly call out the asymmetrical use of Australian law, we can expect the attacks on our nation and national identity to grow.

And to all my detractors, no, I didn’t start this culture war — but I am sure here to end it.

I am writing to report what I believe is a hate-motivated criminal act under the recently enacted Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act 2026 and to request that it be investigated as such.

In the early hours of 21–22 January 2026, historic public monuments in Flagstaff Gardens, Melbourne were targeted in a coordinated act of vandalism. The Pioneer Monument (1871) was toppled and spray-painted with the phrases “Death to Australia,” “The colony will fall,” and “Land Back”, alongside an inverted red triangle associated with Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned in Australia. Nearby, the 1950 Separation Memorial was also defaced with identical slogans and symbols.

These acts were not random or symbolic protests: the language and imagery were directed at Australians as a people, whether for their Anglo-Celtic heritage or for their nationality. The “Land Back” and anti-colonial slogans are a direct call to abolish the nation itself, making the acts threatening and intimidating in both intent and effect.

Under the new Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act 2026, the relevant thresholds for a federal hate crime are met here:

• Targeting by race, national or ethnic origin: Australians as a national and ethnic group were explicitly targeted.
• Public threats or advocacy of violence: The phrases “Death to Australia” and “The colony will fall” communicate clear threats of harm to the community and its property.
• Use of symbols linked to banned extremist organisations: The inverted red triangle is widely recognised as a Hamas symbol, promoting fear and hatred.
• Reasonable fear or intimidation: I, along with other Australians, personally feel threatened by this conduct — and under the new law, the subjective impact on targeted individuals is part of the test for whether conduct constitutes a hate crime.

Given the immediacy, symbolism, and explicit anti-Australian motivation of these acts, I respectfully request that the AFP investigate them as a federal hate crime and extremist offence, applying the protections and penalties envisaged in the new Act.

Please confirm receipt of this report and advise if further evidence, documentation or statements are required. I can provide photographs, news reports and other material substantiating the acts described.