{"id":68796,"date":"2026-08-10T07:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T07:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/68796\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T07:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T07:47:12","slug":"labor-mp-renee-coffey-fights-back-after-iconic-aussie-poster-turned-into-racist-statement-near-brisbanes-norman-park-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/68796\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor MP Renee Coffey fights back after iconic \u2018AUSSIE\u2019 poster turned into racist statement near Brisbane\u2019s Norman Park station"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Labor MP has helped restore a famous Peter Drew \u201cAUSSIE\u201d street art poster<\/a> after the word \u201cINDIAN\u201d was placed over the artwork\u2019s original message.<\/p>\n

The poster near Norman Park station Brisbane<\/a> was defaced before Member for Griffith Renee Coffey stepped in to remove the label.<\/p>\n

Coffey documented the incident and clean-up in a video shared on Facebook<\/a>, which also includes snippets from social media<\/a> posts showing the people who altered the poster, effectively turning the artwork\u2019s original message of inclusion into a racist statement.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

In one of the clips, one of those involved is heard saying \u201cMuch better!\u201d after \u201cINDIAN\u201d was placed over \u201cAUSSIE\u201d.<\/p>\n

Coffey told 7NEWS.com.au she spotted the vandalised posters on Sunday while travelling from the opening of a newly renovated sporting clubhouse in West End to an event at a local school in Cannon Hill.<\/p>\n

She said she immediately went home to collect a step ladder, a squeegee on a pole and her tallest son.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my son asked me where we were going, I said, \u2018To fight racists\u2019,\u201d Coffey said.<\/p>\n

Coffey said she did not support unauthorised postering on public property and cautioned it was strictly against the law.<\/p>\n

But she said seeing renowned Australian artist Drew\u2019s work in her Griffith community was \u201ca genuine delight\u201d for her and many locals.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeter Drew\u2019s iconic artwork represents an inclusive, warm, welcoming Australia that I believe in, and challenges narrow, exclusionary definitions pushed by our political opponents,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Coffey was joined by Jacob, who stopped after passing by in his car, and Scott, who answered her Facebook call for a ladder and paint scraper.<\/p>\n

As they worked to reveal the original \u201cAUSSIE\u201d message, Coffey is heard saying: \u201cNot today, racists, not today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post accompanying the video, Coffey thanked the pair.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks also to all the people who shouted \u2018thank you\u2019 from their cars,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Coffey said the reaction from locals showed the importance of standing against racism.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing weakens our social cohesion more than people who try to use our differences to drive us apart,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacism has absolutely no place in our community, as evidenced by the number of locals who shouted out \u2018thank you!\u2019 and passers-by who stopped to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said everyone should call out racism \u201cwherever and whenever we see it\u201d and make clear that everyone who calls Australia home deserves to feel welcome and respected.<\/p>\n

\"PeterPeter Drew\u2019s \u201cAUSSIE\u201d posters feature people including Indian, Chinese and Afghan migrants who lived in Australia. Credit: Peter Drew<\/p>\n

Drew\u2019s AUSSIE series was launched in 2016 and uses historic photographs of Australians from diverse cultural backgrounds to challenge narrow ideas about Australian identity.<\/p>\n

His posters feature people including Indian<\/a>, Chinese<\/a> and Afghan migrants who lived in Australia, with \u201cAUSSIE\u201d printed beneath their portraits.<\/p>\n

One of the best-known images features Monga Khan, an Indian-born Muslim cameleer and hawker who arrived in Australia in the late 19th century.<\/p>\n

The posters have repeatedly been targeted by vandals, with some ripped down or altered with racist messages.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Labor MP has helped restore a famous Peter Drew \u201cAUSSIE\u201d street art poster after the word \u201cINDIAN\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99,312,7955,2177,152,149,229,106,1134],"class_list":["post-68796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-brisbane","tag-crime","tag-crime-brisbane","tag-migration","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-queensland-news","tag-social-media","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}