Having not lived in Toowoomba for several years, I have missed all the developments referred to in Mr Hagan's article - but I am delighted to hear of them. Walking by and having to see the N-word in its prominent position on a frequent basis was one of the worst aspects of living in an otherwise excellent city.
Argument: he was white. Me: so what? It's offensive. If his friendly team nickname had been 'D#ckhead', would people have rushed to give that offensive epithet a permanent place for all to see?
Argument: we need to educate, not just ban. Me: nice try, but imagine a teacher listing all the offensive terms in his/her head and telling kids their cultural history! Some words need to be simply dropped quietly out of the language so they disappear from our thinking. Here is where I probably differ from Mr Hagan re: Coon cheese. I think little kids are more likely to disregard this word as stupid rather than offensive ("Why's he calling me a piece of cheese?") whereas with the N-word, there is no other meaning possible.
Congratulations to Mr Hagan, Minister Spence and all concerned for removing this anachronistic idiocy from its shameful place in an otherwise respectable and often hugely under-rated city.

What a pity some people have so little to occupy their minds .And rather than indulging in deep contemplation of their navel button, look for silly words to slap politically correct terms on .
How about actually doing something worth while, like getting children safe and educated. And youth trained and employed. Too hard? Pity.

Mr Hagan has done everyone a service by asking us all to look into the seemingly little things we take for granted. My own father, born 1883, routinely in the 1960s used the word n#gger in referring to the local people of Papua: he meant them no harm, but it was indeed racist thinking. Anyone who doubts the racist meaning of the term n#gger should look at the citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (the two-volume one). While there, look at nearby words related to n#gger. Then go to the Australian National Dictionary, also published by Oxford, to find some champion citations from the Bulletin and other dinki-di Aussie usages of the word. If this matter is so small, as suggested by some posts, then it will be a small matter to rectify, so lets get on with it.

"The n....r crew is making merry with the Diridgery doo and the eternal ya-ya-ya- ye-ye-ye cry" 1919 Huon Times (Franklin) 24 January 4/3
Are the crew aborigines or are the crew Afro-Americans playing a didgeridoo? Show me some examples of the word n....r applied to murris and kooris prior to the sixties. Nobody doubts the term is offensive now as it was years ago in the USA. That is not the issue.
The issue is whether you want to expunge the word from our past.

As a social experiment, how about relocating the sign to the MCG.. prominently positioned so as to be easily readable by passing traffic in Punt Road.

blairbar: << The issue is whether you want to expunge the word from our past. >>

I rather thought the issue is whether we want to expunge the word (and all that its use entails) from our present.

Good on you, Stephen. I've been following your fight on this issue since I've lived in the Southern Downs region, and it's good to see that your hard work has helped to move the district some way toward full participation in the the 21st century.