Backlash erupts over Hamish Blake’s latest joke – with some Aussies calling him ‘privileged’ and out of touch

A prank by Hamish Blake at the expense of GPs has drawn the ire of the medical community and NSW MPs.

The respected comedian and presenter last week joked that general medical practice was the highest paying job he could competently do in a day.

“I do a lot of medical stuff on Google and I’ve now got 20 years of experience going to the GP,” he said on his Hamish and Andy podcast.

A joke by Hamish Blake at the expense of GPs has drawn the ire of the medical community and NSW MPs

The two-time Gold Logie winner called the statement “the utmost respect for (the profession)” and said he was not “visiting GPs here because they are so good and you have to go to medical school”.

The Lego Masters host said he would refer any serious cases, such as breathing difficulties, to emergency departments or other specialists.

But the joke fell flat in the medical community, said GP-turned-Greens MP Amanda Cohn.

In the midst of a national shortage, she said it was wrong to “hit an exhausted, undervalued and essential workforce”.

“The perception that GPs are somehow lesser doctors is widespread,” she told NSW parliament on Wednesday.

“General practitioners know more about gynecology than cardiologists, more about cardiology than orthopedic surgeons, and more about orthopedics than psychiatrists.”

A rural GP contacted Dr Cohn to invite Blake to spend a day at her clinic to see first-hand the variety of complex and multiple presentations.

Dr Mariam Tokhi said: ‘Everyone thinks they can be a GP. Even father of the year Hamish Blake thinks it would be a walk in the park: just coughs, colds and recommendations. Glad you sit in my room and start?

“I’m tired of privileged people thinking that their experience of the health system is that.”

‘See if you can tell the difference between a good neck lump and a bad one? See if you can get a suicidal teenager to open up? Is it Meniere’s vertigo, a virus or a stroke? Can you support someone after they have been given a diagnosis of dementia?

“Our primary care system is seriously failing. It has not been funded for years and there is a lack of resources. We’re fighting for good, community-based care when you need it. Celebrities, politicians, journalists, please don’t hijack us. Demand a stronger Medicare. Help us help you.’

Other GPs had recalled cases of back pain turning out to be metastatic prostate cancer, reflux turning out to be a heart attack or baby fever being early signs of meningitis, the Greens MP said.

Opposition MP Damien Tudehope later rose to remember his father delivering triplets as a GP overseeing a small rural hospital.

Upper House MPs later agreed to the motion by Dr Cohn, who called Blake’s comments “as ridiculous as to think that being a frequent flyer gives you the ability to fly a plane”.

Blake, via Southern Cross Austereo, has been contacted for comment.