Mural depicting Shane Fitzsimmons defaced in apparent protest 6park.com
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© AAPSydney street artist Sid Tapia repaints his mural of former RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons after it was defaced in Erskineville, Sydney, Tuesday, February 9, 2021.


A mural depicting former RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons has been defaced in Sydney, less than a day after it was unveiled.
The mural, which is painted on a wall at Erskineville station in the city's inner west, was found to have been covered with graffiti overnight on Tuesday morning.
Police said they believed a man had defaced the mural between 8.55pm and 10.40pm on Monday night. 6park.com
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On Tuesday, police released CCTV footage of a man they believe may be able to assist with their enquiries.
The man appears to be in his early 20s. He is shown wearing a black hooded jumper, a face mask covering his head and face, tradesman style work pants and light-coloured work boots in the footage.
The mural had been unveiled by NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman and its artist, Sid Tapia, at a ceremony on Monday morning.
It was commissioned to launch Graffiti Removal Day, an event in which people are encouraged to clean up graffiti in their local area, which is scheduled for March 28.
In an apparent reference to the initiative, some vandalising text read: "Mural removal day."
Criticism of the mural was posted on social media by local artists on Monday who said murals had their origins in illegal street art.
Sydney visual artist Scott Marsh questioned the decision of Mr Tapia to paint the mural to promote the day in an Instagram post which attracted more than 3000 likes.
"Graffiti built the house, you just live in it. Find a new subculture to feed off," he wrote.
Graffiti Removal Day began in 2012. This year, 3000 volunteers have registered to remove illegal graffiti from 600 sites across the state.
The NSW government says it spends $300 million cleaning illegal graffiti each year.
Mr Fitzsimmons was the state's 2021 Australian of the Year nominee in recognition of his efforts co-ordinating the volunteer RFS response to the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20.
Last year, he was appointed to the newly created role of NSW Resilience Commissioner.