Progress Shark is attacked by Mark Latham as a ‘garbage’ LGBTI+ statue

A shark statue adorned with the rainbow LGBTQIA+ flag, as well as colors representing ethnic minorities, has been called “trash” by a prominent politician.

However, the Australian Museum in Sydney said staff were “blown away” by an “outpouring of love” for their exhibition, called Progress Shark.

The museum’s iconic shark has been decked out in the colors of the Progress Flag to signal that Sydney will host WorldPride this year.

The shark’s body features the LGBTQ rainbow, while the pink and blue stripes represent trans people. There are also black and brown stripes to represent ethnic minorities.

Progress Shark wasn’t supposed to go on display until next week, however the massive installation is already in Sydney, drawing crowds.

Previously, an artist’s impression was widely shared on Twitter, drawing a flood of comments.

NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham criticized Progress Shark, describing it as “garbage”.

‘(Prime Minister Dominic) Perrottet and his ministers beat up our big community clubs while funding this rubbish. Today’s Liberal and National Parties in action,’ he wrote.

(Daily Mail Australia has sought comment from the museum and Mr Perrottet on how exactly Progress Shark is funded.)

The museum said it had been inundated with positive messages about its exhibition.

We are blown away by all the love being shown for #ProgressShark. We can confirm that it will be installed before the end of next week,” the museum tweeted on Wednesday.

The WorldPride festival in Sydney will take place from February 17 to March 5 with hundreds of events and the organizers expect around 500,000 partygoers to attend the celebrations.

The festival will coincide with the 50th Australian Gay Pride Week and the 45th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

To mark the significant milestones, the Sydney Harbor Bridge was lit up in the colors of the rainbow flag for the New Year’s Eve fireworks.

During the festival, the bridge will be closed to traffic to allow for a Pride March.

This will be the first time the bridge has been closed since the World Youth Day celebrations in 2008.

As Sydney prepares for World Pride day, several landmarks have been moved or altered to mark the occasion.

On Tuesday, controversial former Liberal candidate Katherine Deves shared a photo of a 50m rainbow walkway on the steps of the lower promenade at Sydney’s Coogee Beach.

Although he appeared to criticize the installation, he received several comments in support of it.

Also on Tuesday, an Australian woman came under fire after criticizing Sydney’s new airport sign for being “woke”.

Kobie Thatcher took to Twitter to post a picture of the airport sign on Saturday, which was changed ahead of WorldPride.

“International travelers are now greeted with a warm welcome on arrival at Sydney airport,” he said.

‘Couldn’t we just have a neutral signal instead of another unnecessary display of virtue signaling?’

She told Daily Mail Australia that she had received backlash after the post: “I think Australia has always been a welcoming and accepting place for people of all sexual orientations.”

“However, I think a lot of people are getting tired of seeing these kinds of exhibits that are becoming more and more common and really only represent a small percentage of our population.

“I’ve received some criticism for speaking out against this, but I think it’s important that the majority stand up and roll back this virtue-awakening, virtue-pointing ideology that has become so prevalent in our society in recent years.”

Her post triggered a flurry of responses, some agreeing with her while others dismissing her concerns.

One supporter said: ‘This country is wide awake.’

Another said: “It’s probably good to let them know what they’re up to, but I agree it’s not appropriate.”

While a third asked: ‘Why do we have a welcome sign belonging to a small section of the community? And even half of them don’t care or are ashamed. Appealing to a marginal segment of society is the new ‘diversity’.’

However, it also received an avalanche of criticism from Australians who support the poster.

One reviewer responded to her tweet: ‘Grow up. Do you know what “being awake” is?

Another said: “It probably means a lot to LGBTQI+ youth plus youth struggling to be themselves.”

While a third noted: ‘Sydney is literally hosting its biggest event since the 2000 Olympics, World Pride! You can surely understand why the airport might want to welcome attendees.

A fourth added: “It probably means a lot to LGBTQI+ youth plus youth struggling to be themselves.”