Liberal MP James Newbury is facing widespread social media backlash after sharing a now-deleted photo of self-harm, coupled with a message about lockdown restrictions in Victoria.
The Member for Brighton claimed the image, which has since been deleted from Facebook and Twitter, was a girl in his community who had been self-harming and said she’d asked him to “let people know her story.”
The post - which was up for over two hours before it was removed - quickly received condemnation from social media users.
Dr Craig,“a pediatric emergency physician” according to his Twitter bio, weighed in.
“Completely inappropriate to share the image,” Dr Craig tweeted.
“However, I’m interested to see whether you support the raising of additional funds to increase mental health care services in Victoria?”
Another user sent a screenshot of a paper on the influence of imagery on young people’s self-harm.
“Participants also spoke of being inspired to recreate certain sets of practices presented by particular images,” read the paper from the US National .
Some users urged the Victorian MP to refer to the mental health charity Mindframe’s guidelines, as well as guidelines from Beyond Blue.
Mindframe’s guidelines advise minimising “explicit depictions of self-harm” which it says “have been linked to copycat behaviour” because “methods of self-harm are similar to methods of suicide”.
The Feed asked Mr Newbury five questions about the source of the photo and its potential to trigger self-harm in others.
The Victorian MP did not respond to questions about whether he would apologise for posting the image or if he was aware that it appeared to violate mental health guidelines.
“Kids are silently screaming for help, because of repeated lockdowns in Victoria,” he told The Feed in a statement.
“No one is hearing them. If every politician has to be confronted, in order to act, that is what our children deserve.”
A Beyond Blue spokesperson told The Feed.
“Beyond Blue shares the community’s concern about a social media post depicting self-harm that has been circulating today.
“We absolutely must talk openly about self-harm and suicide, especially among young people, but we must do this safely,” they said.
“The evidence is clear that using graphic images of self-harm is distressing and can lead to copycat behaviour.”
Mr Newbury did not respond to further questions from The Feed about why the photo was removed.
If you or someone you know is in immediate crisis, please call police and ambulance on 000.
For further help, contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.
