Roozendaal’s home graffitied with neo-Nazi symbols

CHANTAL ABITBOL

POLICE are investigating an alleged hate crime targeting NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal, after his Bondi home was found graffitied with neo-Nazi symbols over the weekend.

Roozendaal’s spokesman told The AJN an unknown group with suspected links to neo-Nazis painted “88” on the Treasurer’s front gate, footpath and on the outside of a neighbour’s house on Saturday.

The symbol is known as shorthand for Heil Hitler among far-right groups.

The vandalism appears to be an isolated incident, the police told The AJN.

The attack comes one month after Roozendaal struck a deal with the Labor Party’s national secretary that no ALP preferences would go to the anti-immigration group, Australia First, in the next federal election in 2011.

The Treasurer compared the Australia First Party to One Nation, led by controversial figure Pauline Hanson, which got a foothold in Queensland due to Coalition preferences.

“This must not occur again,” Roozendaal, the son of a Holocaust survivor, said at the time.

Yesterday, Roozendaal’s spokesman said the attack would not deter the Treasurer from his cause.

“He will not be intimidated and will continue to speak out against groups preaching hatred and division,” he said.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff also spoke out against the attack.

“All anti-Semitic¬†incidents are to be vigorously condemned. When such an attack invokes the imagery of Hitler, it is even more reprehensible,” Alhadeff said.

“Roozendaal has¬†been a champion of the need to speak out against all forms of racial hatred since his days as a university student, and the community will continue to support him in this endeavour.”

Jim Saleam, leader of Australia First, denied his group had any involvement in the incident.