Statues vandalised

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said yesterday she was considering tougher laws to protect monuments after two statues of British explorer James Cook were vandalised in Sydney. Two women were charged with defacing a statue with spray paint in downtown Hyde Park on Saturday night. Another statue was spray painted in the eastern suburb of Randwick in an unrelated attack, police said. Cities around the world are taking steps to remove statues that represent cultural or racial oppression. Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week apologised for saying Australia was colonised without slavery after critics pointed out that tens of thousands of South Pacific islanders had been forced to labour on Australian sugar cane plantations in the 19th century and Australian indigenous people were forced to work for wages that were never paid.