Twenty bronze sculptures of Australian prime ministers have been vandalized in Ballarat in what police say appears to be a politically motivated attack. Eighteen bronze busts were defaced with spray paint while the heads of two former prime ministers have been stolen.
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00:00Wrapped up in bags, hidden from view, the busts of 20 Australian Prime Ministers damaged
00:08to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.
00:10They have been spray painted, have been damaged and a couple of those heads have been cut
00:16what appears to be from an angle grinder.
00:17Bronze busts of Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd have disappeared.
00:21Valued at around $50,000 a piece, police say it appears the stunt was politically motivated.
00:27There was some spray painting, some graffiti, most of the busts had red crosses painted
00:32on them.
00:33There was some other commentary around about the Commonwealth will fall.
00:37The man who forged the bronze creations says it would have taken considerable effort to
00:42remove them.
00:44The bronze is pretty thick and pretty solid.
00:46To pull it off the stand would have required a lot of force.
00:49The Gardens is a place where people can come and relax and enjoy the space and appreciate
00:55the legacy here in Ballarat.
00:59It's really horrible.
01:01The Prime Minister's walk sustained similar damage in 2020 when Tony Abbott and John Howard's
01:06busts were sprayed with red paint, but it's the first time two busts have been stolen.
01:12We're keen to talk to the occupants of a white ute that was seen in the area around about
01:17that time Thursday morning, a white ute with a canopy and there was a number of people
01:23in that ute.
01:24The Ballarat Council owns the moulds of the sculptures and says fixing them will be a
01:28costly process.
01:30It's a really communal sort of thing.
01:34It's a way of discussing politics which I think is really important and I just think
01:39it's a shame for Ballarat.
01:41I hope they can afford to get them fixed up quickly.