'Pinkwashing' paint attack on police stations and ANZ banks

The Ponsonby Police Station was one of four locations splashed with pink paint. Photo / Bradley Ambrose

Two ANZ bank branches and two police stations in Auckland have been the target of vandalism overnight.

The Ponsonby Rd and Mt Eden Village branches of the bank had pink paint thrown at them overnight in what was believed to be protest.

ANZ bank said in a tweet this morning it was a "shame people resorted to vandalism to make a statement".

A police spokeswoman has also confirmed that the Ponsonby and Avondale police stations were vandalised with paint overnight.

The Ponsonby Rd ANZ branch is home to one of four GayTMs in the country - ATM machines transformed by the bank with vibrant colours and rhinestones.

They were first introduced by ANZ Australia last year to celebrate the Sydney Mardi Gras and were commissioned in New Zealand as part of the bank's diversity programme, with the proceeds from the use of non-ANZ customer cards being donated to OUTline, a not-for-profit counselling service that supports people dealing with gender and sexuality issues.

Our Ponsonby branch was attacked, again. Shame people resort to vandalism. Our staff, str8 &LGBTI alike are gutted. pic.twitter.com/Jh1K6qrrnt

— ANZ New Zealand (@ANZ_NZ) February 23, 2015

This was not the first time the Ponsonby Rd GayTM was targeted - it was covered in white paint over the weekend in what many believed was a homophobic attack.

However, in a blog post, an anonymous group calling themselves Queers Against Injustice said they targeted the GayTM to draw attention to the commercialisation of the Pride Festival, which also took place over the weekend.

Herald users tap here to watch Protest at Auckland Pride Parade

A note left at the Ponsonby Rd ANZ branch last night said "pinkwashing" was a term used to describe how the LGBTQIA struggle was "co-opted to whitewash over unethical behaviour".

"We see in in Aotearoa when corporations (such as ANZ) strategically use gay-friendly marketing to increase profits by exploiting their workers' rights," the note said.

ANZ in Mt Eden. Photo / Preston O'Brien

The note also made mention of an incident at last weekend's Pride Parade in Auckland, where a woman was allegedly injured during an altercation with security.

"A Maori transwoman was tackled by a security guard, her arm broken, and she was refused medical attention by police for 25 minutes while she was protesting the inclusion of a police float in the parade."

A graffiti removal worker works to clean the paint from the Mt Eden ANZ. Photo / Preston O'Brien

This morning a spokesman from ANZ said it was too early to say whether last night's attack was carried out by the same group.

He said most of the paint was cleaned up while it was still wet.