New South Wales Premier Mike Baird has copped a barrage of criticism for an “obnoxious” post on his Facebook page signalling the state’s “graffiti removal day”.
On Sunday morning Mr Mike Baird uploaded a picture of himself standing in front of a mural depicting him.
“Did you know that NSW has an official ‘graffiti removal day’?” the post said.
“Well, it does. And it’s today. Just saying.”
The wisecrack landed flat with his Facebook audience, who criticised Premier Baird for his “smug”, “obnoxious”, and “arrogant” post.
“Graffiti removal day, fun removal day, live music removal day, wow. What will you think of next?” one person wrote.
“That’s not graffiti, that is public art as a political protest. Not only does this photograph depict our Premier as having the maturity of a student politician, it is alarming that he is celebrating the curtailing of political expression,” another wrote.
Website Pedestrian TV speculated Mr Baird had taken the picture with the mural five months ago, and had saved the image to post for this occasion.
Sydney street artist Scott Marsh painted the mural, named Casino Mike, in April.
The mural depicts the Premier holding a glass of wine and a cigarette in one hand and a doner kebab in the other, surrounded by stack of casino chips and a bottle of wine on a table in front of him.
It was painted as a form of protest against the NSW State Government’s controversial lockout laws, of which Sydney’s Star Casino is exempt.
Online Source: ABC.net.au.
