People with Disability (PWD) Australia slam post on Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s Instagram

The Premier has issued an apology after a social media post on his Instagram account was slammed by Australia’s peak disability rights organisation. LATEST

UPDATED, September 2, 10am: A SOCIAL media post on Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s Instagram account has come under fire from one of the country’s largest disability advocacy groups, who has slammed it as “ill-informed and inappropriate”.

In the wake of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese touching down in Hobart on Thursday to open a new urgent care clinic alongside Mr Rockliff and other dignitaries, a celebratory post was put up on the Premier’s Instagram account.

The video post reads: “Hobart’s first urgent care clinic is open. 100% bulk-billed & free. Open 7 days and 2 more on the way!”

And while the caption had not offended anyone, the video content, showing social media personality Hasbulla Magomedov (Hasbik), photoshopped over Medicare signage, drew ire from People With Disability Australia (PWD).

Mr Magomedov, 21, born with a growth hormone deficiency that causes dwarfism, is a well-known Tiktoker from Russia with 2.1 million followers on Instagram. He stands 102cm tall.

PWD president Nicole Lee says despite Mr Magomedov’s prominence on social media, the post on Mr Rockliff’s account was “ill-informed and inappropriate”.

But a Rockliff Government spokesperson said the video was posted as a “pop culture reference” and “the post in question refers to Mr Magomedov as a pop culture figure, any notion otherwise is unfounded”.

“Pop culture references are commonly used to communicate to a broad audience,” the government spokesperson said.

The post drew fire from Australia’s peak disability advocacy organisation, People With Disability Australia. Picture: Instagram/@Jeremyrockliff

PWD fired back: “We (disabled people) get treated as commodities, at the expense of us being positioned as humorous entertainment,” Ms Lee said.

“It’s not appropriate to post content of this nature. If the Premier’s team worked directly with this individual (Mr Magomedov) to post the content, that’s a different story. But they have taken his content without asking in an attempt to be funny.

“There are plenty of disabled people who are comedians but it makes no difference in this situation. We cop enough flak online as it is.”

Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the official opening of the Hobart Urgent Care Clinic on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Chris Kidd

Ms Lee urged the Premier’s team, or whoever posted the video, to “stop, reflect, rethink and take the post down so we can all move on”.

“It was really ill-informed and inappropriate, whoever advised it,” she said.

Ms Lee also raised questions around copyright.

“It’s never appropriate to use anyone’s intellectual property or content without their consent on social media without their consent,” she said.

“Unfortunately this does happen to people that are highly visible on social media.”

The Rockliff Government spokesperson told the Mercury they had used numerous pop culture references in previous posts, with visual cues to television shows The Simpsons and The Office used on Mr Rockliff’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

After the Mercury published this initial story online on Friday, the Premier issued an apology.

“I’m sorry if I have in any way caused offense, that was definitely not the intention and as a result the post has since been taken down,” Mr Rockliff said.

Labor surfaced on Saturday to take aim at the post.

“No one is perfect - but when you’re informed that the language or behaviour you’ve used is unacceptable it’s up to you to do better,” Labor disability spokesperson Luke Edmunds said.

“This is the same Premier who was forced to admit his government did no consultation with the disability community before slashing bus services.”

People with Disability Australia Ltd is Australia’s national peak disability rights and advocacy organisation by and for people with disability. The organisation was founded in 1980 and is based in Surry Hills in Sydney, New South Wales.