Swastika drawn on Liberal corflute of Indigenous candidate at home of MP David Southwick

A Liberal candidate defaced by a swastika on a federal election corflute says the vandalism is a confronting reminder of hate and antisemitism lingering in the community.

Member for Caulfield David Southwick discovered on Thursday morning that a sign on his fence supporting the Liberal candidate for Macnamara, Benson Saulo, was scrawled with the words, “Libs = Nazis” along with a swastika on Saulo’s forehead.

The vandalised poster for Benson Saulo at the home of Caulfield MP David Southwick on Thursday morning.

Saulo described the graffiti as completely unacceptable, antisemitic behaviour, and said it reinforced that Macnamara had a serious community safety issue, on which the Victorian and federal governments were failing to act.

“The defacing of my signs by neo-Nazis and others is a confronting reminder of the level of hate and antisemitism that still lingers in our community,” Saulo said in a statement.

“It reflects the consequences of inaction and silence over the past three years.

“A safer Australia and a safer Macnamara only happens with a change of government.”

Southwick, who is Jewish and campaigns against antisemitism, said he had filed a police report about the incident.

“I was on my way to work, and I received a call from my wife to say the sign had been graffitied overnight with a Nazi swastika on it,” Southwick told The Age.

“It was very, very confronting and something I wouldn’t have expected.

“We see this happening more and more, particularly during election times, but [it was] very confronting to have that on my home.”

Southwick said Saulo, who is Indigenous, had been in touch with him about his campaign material being vandalised in a similar way across the Macnamara electorate.

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said when swastikas were used to target both a Jewish MP and Indigenous candidate, it amounted to “pure, unfiltered hate” – not politics.

“This is the language of fascism, scrawled in black for all to see. And it’s happening in the heart of our democracy,” Abramovich said.

The Herald Sun reported on Thursday that Saulo’s billboards had been defaced with neo-Nazi and white supremacist stickers.

Southwick said he hoped the vandals didn’t realise whose house they had been in front of when they scrawled the offensive material.

“I hope they don’t know it’s my house,” he said. “I really hope not, that’s all I can think about at the moment.”

Macnamara has one of the largest Jewish communities of any electorate in Australia, comprising about 12 per cent of all voters.

The Coalition’s campaign headquarters declined to comment when contacted by The Age.

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