Updated April 13, 2020 18:54:21

Photo: Police are investigating after Nazi and China flags were tied to a tower in central Kyabram. (ABC Shepparton: Rhiannon Tuffield)

A Nazi flag tied to two Chinese flags has been hoisted on a telecommunications tower in northern Victoria, prompting concerns racist vitriol has reared its ugly head in the region in the wake of coronavirus.

Police are investigating and suspect the flags were tied to the Telstra tower in the centre of Kyabram early Sunday morning.

The Nazi flag had the hashtag #COVID19 scrawled across it and was left to fly above the town for almost 48 hours.

It is the second instance of a Nazi flag being flown in plain sight in rural Victoria this year.

On Monday, residents of the small town, in Victoria's Goulburn Valley, appeared shocked and upset by the display.

Many stopped to stare and take photos and others told the ABC they had never seen anything like it before.

The Australian Human Rights Commission says about one in four people who lodged racial discrimination complaints in the past two months say they were targeted due to COVID-19.

Police received multiple complaints about the flag but Kyabram Senior Constable Shane Roberts said it had proved 'difficult' to get the vandalism removed.

"It's making people upset understandably," Senior Constable Roberts said.

"We have no idea where it's come from but we're canvassing local businesses for footage and witnesses and obviously we're appealing for anyone who may have seen anything at all.

"We've never had anything like this previously, so it's a bit out of the blue."

Photo: A local takes a photo of the tower. (ABC Shepparton: Rhiannon Tuffield)

It is believed the three flags were hung on the Bradley Street phone tower sometime between 12:00am and 6:00am on April 12, and police are collecting CCTV footage from the site and nearby businesses.

One local who owned a business directly next door said the perpetrator could possibly have accessed the site via their business.

"It's a bit weird, I don't understand it — I thought it was a bit of a joke but it's all become pretty serious," he said.

"It's a long way up, so I'd say they knew what they were doing to get up there."

Photo: It took authorities two days to take down the flags up high on the Telstra tower. (ABC Shepparton: Rhiannon Tuffield)

A spokesperson from Telstra said a team was working to remove the flags on Monday afternoon, almost two days after they were installed.

The spokesperson said it was "incredibly dangerous and illegal" for any member of the public to climb phone towers.

"It is disappointing to see that people are spreading hatred at a time when we all need to work together, and that our infrastructure is being used to promote this message," the spokesperson said.

"Our focus is on ensuring our customers can keep connected when they need it most — luckily there was no damage to our tower and no services have been impacted."

Photo: The Telstra tower is in the centre of the town of Kyabram. (ABC Shepparton: Rhiannon Tuffield)

Racism spreading like a virus

The incident has drawn attention to the racism being hurled at ethnic communities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month in Tongala, only 16 kilometres from Kyabram, the Chinese owners of the local IGA faced a barrage of abuse from customers entering the store, as panic buying and anxiety ramped up.

Store manager, Jodie Wilson, said rumours about "busloads of Asians" clearing out supermarket shelves were untrue for the Tongala IGA.

I was standing in a supermarket aisle and moving my shopping trolley to make room for a middle-aged woman to pass when I overheard it: "Asians … stay home … stop spreading the virus."

"That definitely wasn't the case, we never had busloads of anyone show up here," she said.

"Our main issue is the racist remarks about our store owners being Asian and stockpiling toilet paper to send home to their own family.

"They're a little bit heartbroken because they're very community-minded people, they donate to every organisation in this town and employ all locals to keep the money here."

Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, said while he had not noticed a rise in racism in his electorate, the Kyabram incident was "totally offensive".

"Why anyone would do this is just beyond imagination," he said.

"The fact they actually climbed the tower itself, which is very dangerous, but to hand those flags there — it is not reflective of the community of Kyabram at all.

"We, as the opposition, believe flying the Nazi flag should be made an offence — it's used by white supremacists and is totally offensive to all of those involved in the Second World War, not just the Jewish community."

David Kram, the president of Kehillat s'dov Zahav, a Jewish congregation in Central Victoria, asked for compassion from the community.

"It's generally a response by people who are not well-educated, who have not travelled, who don't read a broad range of topics, but only read things that are written or hear things that are said by people in their own group," he said.

"If people want to fly flags or march into supermarkets with Nazi insignia, beware any form of extremist behaviour is like a virus and you need to recognise it.

"You need to combat it and you need to be aware of it."

Topics: vandalism, crime, covid-19, kyabram-3620, tongala-3621

First posted April 13, 2020 18:50:20