Remove the statue of Edmond Barton from Town Green, Port Macquarie.

Town Green is a known burial site for Birpai people.The presence of this statue on this site is highly offensive and represents that Port Macquarie is not a culturally inclusive town. Edmund Barton was representative for "White Australia", and this is linked to contemporary inequitable ideologies and racism.

Edmund Barton was explicitly racist, "There is no racial equality. There is that basic inequality. These races are, in comparison with white races – I think no-one wants convincing of this fact – unequal and inferior"

It is offensive to glorify this man who represents racist ideologies on this sacred site.

Time to be more culturally inclusive and start thinking about place and streetscape and how glorifying father's of racism reinforces outdated narratives.

Let them remain in the history books, but out of our shared spaces and First Nation's sacred places.