From the Jewish News:

‘Offensive’ and ‘nonsensical’ poster condemned
NAOMI LEVIN

VICTORIAN Parliamentarians are up in arms over a poster issued by a protest group that compares Premier John Brumby with Adolf Hitler.

The poster, which appears on the ‘Plug the Pipe’ website asks “can you spot the difference between these two dictators?” Beneath the text is a picture of Adolf Hitler and picture of John Brumby with a crude moustache and fringe drawn on it.

Evan Thornley, parliamentary secretary to the premier and the upper house member for Southern Metropolitan, slammed the group and its poster.

“Political protest is more than acceptable but making comparisons to Hitler and the murder of over six million people is nothing short of offensive,” Thornley said.

A spokesperson for Ted Baillieu added that the Opposition Leader is firmly opposed to anti-Semitism of any kind.

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria also responded to the poster with concern, calling it “nonsensical”.

“To compare Premier Brumby with the man who started a war that killed tens of millions from many nations and who had a deliberate policy of exterminating the Jewish people is nonsensical,” president Anton Block said.

“We understand that there was no ill intent towards Holocaust survivors on the part of those using these words. However, we ask that they and others remember the power of memory and language and that they be more sensitive in future public discourse.”

The AJN tried to contact the Plug the Pipe group on Thursday morning but they did not answer phone calls.

Plug the Pipe is an organisation that opposes the transportation of water from northern Victoria to the city in a project known as the Food Bowl Modernisation Project. The group was in the news last month after it threatened to trespass Brumby’s rural property.