Territory deputy chief minister Chansey Paech slammed over “scheduled” Facebook photo posted hours after Tanami fatal crash

Punters have labelled a post from the Attorney-General “appalling”, “insensitive”, “disgraceful”, with the photo being taken down and an apology being issued shortly after. See what caused the upset.

Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A now-deleted Facebook post by the Territory’s deputy Chief Minister has landed him in hot water – with some punters calling the post “insensitive”, “disgraceful”, ”appalling”, and “out of touch”, while some offered sympathy for the gaffe.

A photo appeared on Gwoja MLA Chansey Paech’s Facebook post showing him behind the wheel of an wrecked abandoned vehicle on Saturday, July 13 – a day after a crash on Tanami Rd left two people dead and three injured.

The first line of the post said “Nah, hop in, she’ll be right”, with the second line stating “remember, motorcar take you everywhere!” with a thumbs up emoji.

Mr Paech is behind the wheel of the vehicle – which is dilapidated with rust on all of its panels – holding up his fingers in what appears to be reminiscent of a tick.

The post was removed, with an apology issued on Mr Peach's Facebook page.

A photo posted on Chansey Paech's Facebook a day after a fatal crash on Tanami Road has been slammed by punters.

“I apologise for any hurt that may have been caused by a scheduled post from earlier today,” the apology reads.

“I removed the post as soon as I was made aware.

“My deepest condolences go to families impacted by the recent tragedy.”

However, the post was saved and shared to the Action for Alice 2020 Facebook page – who said they received “many copies” of the post.

The Action for Alice post said the Tanami Rd accident was “just a horrible incident” involving a car that “flipped several times”.

“Just terrible bad taste to say the least,” the Action for Alice post said.

Commenters quickly piled on, calling the photo “poor taste”, “naive” and more.

“How disgraceful. May those people involved rest in peace,” Ingrid Taylor commented, while Ian Taylor’s comment said he “should resign immediately”.

Others questioned how the photo could be linked to the accident – noting the wear of the vehicle Mr Paech is in – while some commenters said Tanami Rd was due an upgrade.

On Mr Paech’s apology post, commenters were more sympathetic, with commenter ‘what a croc’ noting the “bad timing”.

More detail about the post emerged in a comment thread, in which Mr Paech’s Facebook account thanked a commenter for their sympathy.

“Chansey I am glad the post was removed, I was so upset the way they talked about you and I knew you would never have talked like that,” the comment said.

“Thank you! It was a scheduled post from a week ago and removed it as soon as I saw it,” Mr Paech’s Facebook account replied.

Mr Paech is the Territory’s deputy Chief Minister, Justice Minister, Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty Minister, Local Government Minister, and Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister, as well as the Attorney-General.

Mr Paech was contacted for further comment.

He said the only comment he would like to make has already been posted to Facebook and reiterated his apology.