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A giant mural depicting a bulldog urinating on Senator Pauline Hanson has been altered by a council in Melbourne's western suburbs, just one day after it was completed.
Maribyrnong City Council painted over Senator Hanson's face this morning, leaving just the bulldog, which is wearing the Western Bulldogs football guernsey.
Artist Van T Rudd painted the mural on a shop wall on Donald Road in Footscray, with permission from the owner, but the council's chief executive officer Stephen Wall said it had received "numerous complaints".
"We believe that this mural is offensive because of the depiction of a dog urinating on the face of a political figure, not on the basis of disrespect to Pauline Hanson in general," he said.
Rudd painted the mural as a statement against right-wing politics and said he was not surprised by the council's decision, but was disappointed it happened so quickly.
"I was quickly driving past and thought I'd have a look to see if it was still there and I couldn't believe it had disappeared already," he said.
"I thought it might have lasted at least a few more days."
Senator Hanson said on Sunday she was not offended by the mural, because she had been subjected to worse insults and political life required a thick skin.
However, Mr Wall said the mural contravened the Graffiti Prevention Act 2007, which the council was responsible for enforcing.
Rudd said the mural had attracted plenty of attention on social media, with both messages of support and messages from One Nation supporters threatening to complain to the council.
He said even though Senator Hanson's image had been removed, the full image could never be killed-off.
"There are a lot of [my] supporters that have already said it's already fairly etched in people's memories and also physically on their social media devices," he said.
"So it can't totally be erased."
Mr Wall said the council's decision to take action over the mural should not be viewed as a political statement and was based on recommendations from its officers.
As for the decision to leave the bulldog unmoved, with its leg cocked and a slightly bemused look on its face, Mr Wall pointed out that: "Footscray is the home of the Bulldogs."
He said Maribyrnong City Council supported street art through its StreetWORKS! program, involving partnerships with property owners, businesses and government utilities to place commissioned artwork.
The Western Bulldogs has been contacted for comment.
Topics: pauline-hanson, street-art, local-government, government-and-politics, footscray-3011, melbourne-3000, vic
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