The internet had a good chuckle at the Prime Minister’s expense over the Australia Day long weekend, after he awarded Prince Philip (you know, the Queen’s husband) an Australian Knighthood. Tony Abbott cranked the Taylor Swift rhetoric up to 11 and dismissed online haters, labelling social media as “electronic graffiti”.
Image: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty
Twitter was awash with gags yesterday as it was revealed that Tony Abbott would be knighting Prince Philip as part of the Australia Day celebrations.
I assume Prince Philip has been named an Australian Knight for his services to casual racism, right?
— Wil Anderson (@Wil_Anderson) January 25, 2015
So now we knight racist bigots living in UK?? Don’t know which Aust you’re leading, PM, but it’s not one I recognise http://t.co/L2a1GfnQZi
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) January 26, 2015
Jar Jar Binks as Galactic Senator more realistic appointment than Prince Philip as Australian Knight…
— Wil Anderson (@Wil_Anderson) January 25, 2015
So now Tony Abbott has made Prince Philip a knight, we’re finally all convinced he’s a piece of horrifying immersive performance art, right?
— Jodi McAlister (@JodiMcA) January 25, 2015
Prince Philip, who in 2002 asked an Indigenous Australian businessman ‘Do you still throw spears at each other?’ has been made…
— Michellectronic (@riding_red) January 25, 2015
… an Australian knight on the day that commemorates the English invasion of Australia. What the even. http://t.co/hKa1Nmt7iZ
— Michellectronic (@riding_red) January 25, 2015
How ridiculous:Prince Philip an Australian knight. Abbott’s knights and dames game is an international joke.
— Maralyn Parker (@MaralynParker) January 25, 2015
BREAKING: Lifelong welfare recipient receives Australian Knighthood. http://t.co/PJpvN7fPBB
— Not Tony Abbott (@notTAbbott) January 25, 2015
When asked at a press conference what he thought of the online backlash, PM Abbott replied:
“I’ll leave social media to its own devices. Social media is kind of like electronic graffiti and I think that in the media, you make a big mistake to pay too much attention to social media. You wouldn’t report what’s sprayed up on the walls of buildings.”
Remind me again how much the Federal Government spends monitoring electronic graffiti, again? Oh that’s right: $5000 a day.