A teenager who used a fire extinguisher filled with red paint to vandalise former federal opposition leader Peter Dutton’s electorate office during the 2025 election campaign has been sentenced to community service.
Eighteen-year-old Aahana Nag appeared at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday, flanked by supporters, where she pleaded guilty to a charge of wilful damage over the April 29 incident targeting Dutton’s Arana Hills office in Brisbane’s north.
The court heard Nag arrived with three others in the early hours of the morning, donning a surgical mask before spraying the front of the office with red paint and plastering posters criticising Dutton’s stance on the Gaza conflict and his ties to US President Donald Trump.
Police were called to the scene around 2.30 am and used dogs to track and apprehend Nag. She sustained scarring and bruising after being mauled by a police dog. Officers found surgical gloves, masks, a baseball cap and a balaclava in her backpack.
Defence lawyer Terry Fisher told the court that Nag’s actions were politically motivated, claiming she was driven by a deep awareness of social injustices, including comments Dutton had made on Palestine and the environment.
“This was an act of resistance, and Peter Dutton does not support us,”
Nag said outside court, her face shielded by supporters.
She was sentenced to 20 hours of community service to be completed within six months. No conviction was recorded.
During the campaign, Dutton had described the attack as “outrageous” and a threat to democratic values. He went on to lose his seat of Dickson to Labor’s Ali France — a historic first for an opposition leader.
While most of the graffiti has been cleared from the now-vacant office, red paint remains on the walls, and the words “Fascists don’t represent us” are still visible on the ground.
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