The Macedonian community in NSW was deeply saddened to see stickers containing racist and provocative anti-Macedonian messages littered across parts of Liverpool in South-West Sydney this week. As the Australian Macedonian Council of New South Wales wrote on Facebook, the messages were allegedly promulgated by a right-wing group, and were placed in front of schools, churches and other public places. Relevant authorities have been advised.

Sydney’s south west is a culturally-rich and socially cohesive place to live for many diverse communities, and this has certainly caused a sense of angst and unease amongst our vulnerable members of the community who have been affected by these slurs.

This is similar to graffiti attacks that were allegedly carried out by unidentified groups in Victoria in 2018, who vandalised a place of worship with profanity and similar slurs.

These instances serve no other purpose than to stir tension and mistrust, and to cause division between communities and individuals. In these difficult times when overseas geopolitical issues have the potential to affect communities in Australia, Australian Macedonian Council of New South Wales calls for calm, restraint and dialogue.