Dr Mumbo

Abbott: Malcolm Turnbull invented the Australian Internet

Remember that urban myth that Al Gore once claimed to have invented the internet?

Well, Tony Abbott has just shanked his colleague and (ahem) potential leadership challenger Malcolm Tunbull by making a similar claim on his behalf.

In a speech to the party room – and yes, it is a speech, as in prepared remarks now sitting on Abbot’s website, not something off the cuff, he today had the following to say:

“We have a strong and credible broadband policy because the man who has devised it, the man who will implement it virtually invented the Internet in this country. Thank you so much, Malcolm Turnbull.”

aboott turnbull speech

Turnbull certainly invested in OzEmail in the early days, but Dr Mumbo suspects he’d never claim to have invented the Australian internet.

But give it a few days, and that’s how people will remember it.

Well played, Tony Abbott. Well played.

5pm update: Video of the speech is now online. Abbott’s line gets a laugh. Is it a riff on the Gore myth? Maybe. Not that it’s being received on social media and news sites that way though.

google news abbott internet

Make up your own mind:

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