There are calls for city councils to intervene to stop the events, which some fear will divide the community.
Many of those who suffered under former Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong see him as one of history's worst mass murderers.
Concerts celebrating the legacy of Mao Zedong are planned for Sydney and Melbourne next month to mark the 40th anniversary of his death on September the 9th, 1976.
But an associate professor in China Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, Dr Chongyi Feng, says he will not be in the audience in his city.
"The deaths caused by Mao himself and Mao's policy is actually more than (Josef) Stalin and (Adolf) Hitler combined."
And Professor Shangxiao Han, from the Embrace Australian Values Alliance that opposes the concerts, expresses a similar view.
"So many people in my family and so many people's family, relatives, we got people just killed, persecuted, both. Some people, they just disappeared without their names mentioned. It's a very, very bad thing. This is really disturbing."
Concert organisers say they recognise the mistakes of the man known as Chairman Mao but his legacy is more important: his contribution to the Chinese Revolution.
Mao led the Communist uprising that swept into power in 1949, removing the Nationalist Chinese government.
But over a 10-year period from 1966, under the stated aim of preserving communist ideology, China's Cultural Revolution led to millions of people being persecuted in violent struggles.
There was arbitrary imprisonment, torture, harassment and the seizure of property.
Thousands of people were forcibly displaced to rural areas of China, and schools and temples were destroyed.
Some who had family members suffer under Mao do plan to attend the concerts, though.
Belinda Xia says her father was declared anti-revolutionary and could not work for 10 years, but she argues Mao needs to be seen in the bigger picture.
"We should view them for (their) whole history. So we're still thinking that Chairman Mao was a great person."
Petitions calling for the Melbourne and Sydney city councils to stop the concerts have attracted more than 2,000 signatures.
But the councils of both cities say it is not their role to take sides.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle cites free speech.
The concerts are planned for September the 6th in Sydney and September the 9th in Melbourne.
