Sir, Step Away From the Graffiti

|

An Canadian Australian law-and-order stunt gone awry:

The ACT's Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has asked the police to investigate if Liberal MLA Steve Pratt has broken the law by painting over a graffiti mural while proving a point about vandalism.

On the weekend, Mr Pratt invited the media to watch him clean the mural at Woden which is believed to be a legal artwork commissioned by a local sporting club.

Mr Pratt says Mr Stanhope is wrong and that the area isn't zoned for public art.

"Even if it was legally commissioned artwork, it should not have been painted in an area that is not a designated art mural area," he said.

"And secondly it is totally inappropriate for it to be placed on the entrance way to a cemetery which is a sacred and a serene place."

Charles Paul Freund profiled the kind of artist that would give Pratt nightmares back in 2004.