A senior minister in the Gillard government accused of ripping off lines from an old Hollywood movie, has conceded the quote in his National Press Club address today was a "stuff up".
The government's leader in the House of Representatives, Anthony Albanese, has been hounded on Twitter after using his lunchtime address to the club to attack Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, telling journalists Australia has "serious challenges to solve and we need serious people to solve them".
"Unfortunately, Tony Abbott is not the least bit interested in fixing anything. He is only interested in two things: making Australians afraid of it and telling them who's to blame for it."
Playing the lead part in the romantic 1995 comedy, The American President, actor Michael Douglas attacked his political adversary with an eerily similar line.
"We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them," Douglas told his audience in a scene from the movie.
"And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it."
Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne seized on the similarity in the lines, calling it a "humiliating blunder". He said it shows Mr Albanese is "bereft of new ideas".
According to Mr Pyne, Mr Albanese risked "being the subject of immense ridicule in the media and when Parliament resumes".
Neither of the minister's two press officers returned Fairfax Media's phone calls on the issue, but six hours after the address, 'Albo', as he likes to be known, used Twitter to respond.
"D'oh! Stuff up," Mr Albanese tweeted, only this time he attributed the line, adding "for the record, that comes from another great American, Homer Simpson".
Email a friend