A Sydney tenant at the centre of a dispute over an Australian flag has been told a planned $50-a-week rent increase will no longer go ahead.

Earlier this week, Breeanah O’Brien said she had been asked to remove the Australian flag displayed outside her rental home in Sydney’s north-west because the owner feared it would make the property “a target”.

After questioning the request, O’Brien received notice that her weekly rent would rise from $550 to $600 from August 12, raising suspicions the increase may have been linked to the controversy.

The real estate agency denied the rent rise was retaliatory, saying the increase reflected market conditions and was ultimately the landlord’s decision.

Wiseberry Thompsons director Stephen Thompson said he believed the two matters were unrelated, but described the landlord’s concerns about the flag attracting vandalism as “a load of garbage” and said the tenants should never have been asked to remove it.

The dispute drew comments from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said, “I support the Australian flag”, while One Nation leader Pauline Hanson criticised the situation as a sign Australians were losing sight of their national identity.

Late on Thursday, the agency said the owner had a change of heart, regretted asking for the flag to be taken down and, as a gesture of good faith, had decided to waive the rent increase for now.

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