Seven hashtags that sum up #auspol in 2014

Gigi Silk
Dec 05, 2014, updated Dec 05, 2014

It has been a memorable 12 months in Australian politics.

From the Clive Palmer and Jacqui Lambie spat, to Ricky Muir not understanding what ‘balance of power’ meant and Christopher Pyne starting a petition, there have been more political gaffes and moments for mockery than an entire Monty Python movie.

• Tony Abbott’s first year in power in 18 quotes
• Lazarus tells Pyne: stop texting me
• Our politicians’ 13 most uncomfortable moments

As always, the quick wits and fast fingers of the Twitter army did not let our politicians off lightly. Every tongue slip and opinion poll was noted by the keyboard warriors who made it their job to poke fun at our elected leaders.

Here are the top seven political hashtags on 2014.

#TummyEggs

Who could forget that comment in May from “Mr Tummy Eggs” himself, former Victorian MP Geoff Shaw.

On the topic of abortion laws, Mr Shaw reportedly said “here in Australia we can’t kill snake eggs but we are quite happy to kill an egg in the tummy and it should be the safest place for a baby to be.”

The Twittersphere was ignited by the phrase ‘tummy eggs’ and left speculating about what level of biology Shaw must have reached to believe that ‘tummy eggs’ were part of the human reproductive system.

@vanbadham Pooh is concerned #tummyeggs pic.twitter.com/tuY04P5WgD — SpeakSense (@uknowiSS) May 8, 2014

Clearly Geoff Shaw was told “babies come from Mummy’s tummy” at age 4 and never investigated further. #tummyeggs — Sophie Benjamin (@sophbenj) May 8, 2014

Dear Mr Shaw. Back to school for you. #tummyeggs pic.twitter.com/geVDJiDjxP — Dame Cath (@AstraKate) May 9, 2014

#MorePopularThanAbbott

Tony Abbott’s popularity dropped in May after the Coalition’s first Budget announcement.

The morning after the government called for austerity through budget cuts and chaplaincy programs, a Newspoll had the Coalition 10 points behind Labor and Bill Shorten as the preferred prime minister.

This lead Twitter users to think up a long list of unappealing things more likeable than the prime minister.

The Black Death #MorePopularThanAbbott #auspol pic.twitter.com/TjozG8gFqT — Bruce Campbell (@nvisionthing_au) May 19, 2014

4am writing a 4,000 essay on privacy law. #MorePopularThanAbbott pic.twitter.com/wYoCiezyjn — Missy Key (@RedPennedBandit) May 23, 2014

Papercuts between your toes #MorePopularThanAbbott — Luke JD (@Inked_Activist) May 23, 2014

And even though the budget is months behind us, the #morepopularthanabbott hashtag still gets the odd mention.

*THIS FUNNEL-WEB SPIDER… #MorePopularThanAbbott pic.twitter.com/cqhITs0q2M — Crotchety & Quavery (@TheBroaditorium) July 15, 2014

Every major leader in the world is #MorePopularThanAbbott #auspol pic.twitter.com/taVg41MUff — Ben Margerison (@benblues80) June 8, 2014

#Winkgate

Who could forget the moment when Abbott winked at Jon Faine?

While Abbott said he was simply winking in response to the ABC radio presenter, the fact that it was during a phone call from a chronically ill grandmother who worked on a phone sex line did not go unnoticed by the masses. It didn’t help that Jon Faine said the wink was definitely not in response to him.

So we already knew what Abbott thinks of people who are struggling to makes ends meet. And now we have a visual. #winkgate — Queen Victoria (@Vic_Rollison) May 21, 2014

People! #winkgate is not the scandal! Abbott is the scandal! #auspol — AshGhebranious (@AshGhebranious) May 21, 2014

#WhatAbbottWillSayToObama

In June, Twitter speculated about what Abbott might say to US President Barack Obama when the pair would meet later that month.

The hashtag was sparked by this cheeky tweet from the Deputy Leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt.

I just flew over the sea and it didn’t seem any higher to me #WhatAbbottwillsaytoObama — Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) June 4, 2014

And within hours the trend had spread from Sydney and Melbourne up to Brisbane and across to the west coast of Australia.

My country is very progressive, we have women with binders on a woman #WhatAbbottWillSayToObama pic.twitter.com/DEu4lte3TV — Zac Spitzer (@zackster) June 4, 2014

#WhatAbbottWillSayToObama: “Sorry, we are late, Labor’s Debt and Deficit Disaster was terrible”. #auspol pic.twitter.com/VIX90JxXDA — You Bet You Am! (@johndory49) June 4, 2014

#Canadia

At a press conference in Ottawa in early June, Abbott stumbled over the name of that large country just north of the United States, commenting that “Canadia” probably had a lot more involvement in European affairs than Australia.

So it’s not called Canadia? #auspol pic.twitter.com/ePgx6DUHTu — Coalition Tea Lady (@ItsBouquet) June 9, 2014

Please can Tony just keep touring til the next election. It’s bringing so much pleasure to so many #auspol #canadia — HRH Elmer Wang (@ElmerRudd) June 9, 2014

I still think we need a stewards inquiry into this whole Rhodes Scholarship thing #TonyAbbott #belikemike #canadia #whatsnext — David O’Byrne (@Davidobyrne1969) June 14, 2014

#TeamAustralia

In August, in a moment of patriotism, Abbott called on “Team Australia” to work together to battle terrorism.

The prime minister may have simply wanted to bolster a feeling of community spirit, but Twitter was quick to call for a mutiny against the team’s captain.

Team captains have been chosen for the new #TeamAustralia pic.twitter.com/6cv7Pgt1k9 — Adam Samuel (@theadamsamuel) August 6, 2014

#TeamAustralia #auspol pic.twitter.com/HubOPFJ2Co — Bean (@SomersetBean) August 5, 2014

#Shirtfront

In October Abbott announced he was going to “shirtfront” Russian President Vladimir Putin over the MH17 disaster.

Despite the seriousness of not only the disaster but the way in which Abbott delivered the message, not a single person on Twitter seemed to take Abbott seriously – or would back him in the fight.

Before the @TonyAbbottMHR v Putin “Rumble in the G20-ungle”, here are the stats you need to know. #shirtfront pic.twitter.com/npn1WdqTKA — Patrick Commins (@ComminsP) October 13, 2014

@latikambourke I think the PM is making a bold assumption that Putin will be wearing a shirt #shirtfront pic.twitter.com/ri0t1PX2aF — Stuart Ellis (@70RTY) October 13, 2014

#ABCBudgetCutShows

Within hours of Malcolm Turnbull’s November announcement that there would be a 4.6 per cent reduction in ABC funding, Twitter lit up with the hashtag #ABCbudgetcutshows, speculating on what the ABC’s broadcast schedule could look like in 2015.