A tree honouring former prime minister Tony Abbott has been chopped down for the second time since it was planted just over two weeks ago, prompting a council to install CCTV so it does not happen a third time.
On 5 August, Abbott had travelled to the Blue Mountains for a ceremony to plant the English oak in front of a crowd of 150 people at the Corridor of Oaks – a memorial park that has seen every Australian prime minister or their nearest living relative plant a tree since 1935.
A few days later, the tree – planted for its “symbolic strength and long lifespan” – had been sawn off.
The mayor of the Blue Mountains, Mark Greenhill, said the council replaced the tree four days after the incident happened. But over the weekend it was again chopped down.
The second attack on Abbott’s tree has prompted the Blue Mountains council to take measures to help ensure it does not happen again, installing CCTV cameras that will be pointed at Abbott’s tree.
“We’ve ordered the replacement tree and we’ll put the tree and the CCTV in together,” he said.
Greenhill said in the 90 years since the park was first established to honour the father of federation, Sir Henry Parkes, there had been “sporadic incidents of vandalism” but it was “extremely rare”.
NSW police said it was investigating the first incident after a report was made on 10 August. Greenhill said the council would report the second incident on Tuesday.
He said he was disappointed the council was having to plant the tree for the third time, with the tradition meant to be a day “free from politics”.
“We don’t want to be like America, we don’t want to have the vicious politics of Americans. Mr Abbott and I come from opposite sides but we come together to celebrate our democracy … and party politics don’t matter,” he said.
It is not the first time a monument commemorating Abbott has been vandalised. In 2017, a statue of Abbott in Ballarat was draped in a crown of onions, which was assumed to be a reference to when he was filmed eating a raw onion.
In 2020, the same statue was defaced, alongside another in the park of John Howard, with red paint.
At the ceremony to plant Abbott’s tree the first time, Abbott had said he was proud to honour the memory of Sir Henry Parkes.
“In honouring him, we do honour our country,” he said. “I certainly think there are many great forms of public service … and there is no doubt that public service in the parliament is unique, and it’s wonderful that it is celebrated in this Avenue of Oak.”
