Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has slammed “abhorrent” graffiti in Melbourne glorifying Hamas on the second anniversary on the October 7 terror attacks on Israel.

Pro-Hamas graffiti appeared on Tuesday morning, including the words “Glory to Hamas” painted in black lettering on a large billboard above a shop on the corner of Alexandra Parade and Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, in the city’s inner-north.

The words “Free Palestine” and “Oct 7, do it again” were later found on the side of a building further along Alexandra Parade on the corner of Brunswick Street.

The graffiti appeared on the second anniversary of the October 7 terror attacks on Israel by Hamas, which Australia has designated as a terrorist organisation.

Albanese said the Australian Federal Police would work with Victoria Police to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“The terrorist propaganda defacing a Melbourne billboard on the anniversary of the October 7 murders is abhorrent,” he said.

“The people responsible must face the full force of the law.”

Graffiti on the wall of a retail store in Melbourne. Photo: AAP

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles earlier told ABC radio authorities would look into whether it constituted a terrorism offence, while Victoria Police confirmed it was investigating criminal damage to the billboard.

“There is absolutely no place at all in our society for antisemitic or hate-based symbols and behaviour,” a spokesperson said.

October 7 marks two years since 1200 people were killed and about 250 hostages were taken from Israel in an attack by Hamas.

In total, 198 hostages have been returned to Israel, 148 of these alive. A further 48 remain in captivity.

The attack triggered an Israeli military campaign that has killed more than 66,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the graffiti was deeply disturbing and Victorians deserved to feel safe in their own community.

“Supporting [Hamas] is not free speech, it is a crime,” she said.

“Those responsible must face the full force of the law.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the graffiti is “abhorrent”. Photo: AAP

Premier Jacinta Allan said it was wrong and offensive, particularly when the community was marking the biggest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust.

“It is almost impossible to describe this behaviour in terms of what has been written on this billboard,” she told ABC radio.

“My thoughts … go to everyone in the Jewish community today and everyone in our community who is striving for peace and harmony. This is not achieving that outcome.”

Victorian opposition police spokesman David Southwick, who is Jewish, said the words were triggering.

“In terms of what is happening in Gaza, I haven’t met a member of the Jewish community that doesn’t want the war to end, that doesn’t want the hostages returned,” he said.

“But … to have people glorifying a terrorist organisation in Melbourne is just beyond belief and those people responsible need to be held to account.”

Yarra City Council said it would remove the graffiti once police finished gathering evidence.

Opera House rally feud

In Sydney, Jewish leaders have taken the rare step of joining a police-led court case trying to curtail an anti-Israel rally the Opera House.

The Palestine Action Group has defended as “entirely appropriate” a rally on Sunday that would start in Sydney’s city centre and finish at the Sydney Opera House forecourt.

The march would come five days after the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, and mirror a controversial snap rally held at the iconic building days after the terrorist incident in 2023.

Organisers have said the march is a protest against Israel’s offensive in Gaza and will mark “two years of genocide”.

Palestine Action Group activist Damian Ridgewell rejected any assertion the protest would be unsafe, as argued by police.

“It’s entirely appropriate that people march to an iconic landmark to make the point that the Australian community is actually horrified by the complicity of our government [in the alleged genocide],” he told ABC Radio.

Police will challenge the Opera House end point on safety grounds in a Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday.

NSW Police and organisers sought to elevate the case to the higher Court of Appeal as two prominent Jewish groups submitted they also deserved a voice in the legal feud.

Representatives from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry argue weekly rallies held since 2023 have turned Sydney’s streets into a “no-go zone for Jewish people” and say freedom of assembly should be balanced against freedom from harassment.

“The right to protest does not equate to a right to cause maximum disruption to the general public,” council president Daniel Aghion said.

“On the contrary, it imposes a concomitant obligation on those holding a public assembly to take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to the general public.”

-with AAP