Coalition minister’s Facebook account congratulates himself for his own policies

Well done me: Angus Taylor praises himself as 'fantastic' in Facebook fail

If you want to give yourself an ego boost online, it’s probably best not to leave a clear trail that you are giving yourself a pat on the back.

The energy minister, Angus Taylor, was caught out after his official Facebook page was spotted replying to its own post, telling the minister he was “fantastic” and saying “well done Angus”.

💧Isabel M (@mumdaze) A mistake anyone can make on a hectic campaign trail: Congratulating yourself from the wrong account. #humevotes #ausvotes2019 pic.twitter.com/SwnlJDMCbc

In the post from Monday, the Liberal MP announced an extra 1,000 car spots at Campbelltown station, which sits in the electorate next to New South Wales seat of Hume.

Four hours later, his official account replied, saying “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus”.

As of Wednesday morning, other commenters had taken to the post to also say “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus”, or just “fantastic”.

Others took it further, applying the phrase to their own experience.

Angus Livingston (@anguslivingston) me whenever I show off my soccer skills: pic.twitter.com/TieDre8Gd7

Taylor, who was previously the minister for cybersecurity, has since deleted the self-congratulatory comment.

The minister’s media spokesman was asked if there was an explanation for the reply, and whether the minister or his staff regularly commented in praise of his own announcements under separate accounts, but has not yet replied.

brad esposito 🍃 (@bradesposito) the state of Angus Taylor's facebook comments now pic.twitter.com/jcJVMjfx34

In recent weeks Taylor has also faced questions over an $80m water deal between the federal government and Eastern Australia Agriculture, after it emerged that he was one of the founding directors of the company.

Taylor cut ties with the company before he entered parliament in 2013 and has repeatedly said that he has never had a direct or indirect financial interest in the company, which was domiciled in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands.

Taylor’s self-praise follows in a long line of other political social media gaffes, including the infamous moment US senator Ted Cruz’s Twitter account liked a pornographic tweet in 2017.

The Republican said this was because the account was shared across a number of staffers.

“There are a number of people on the team that have access to the account and it appears that someone inadvertently hit the like button,” he said.

Closer to home, the former defence industry minister Christopher Pyne also said his account was “hacked” when his Twitter account liked a pornographic tweet that year.

The UK’s former shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, also once tweeted his own name (“Ed Balls”) instead of searching it, in an event that spawned its own commemorative day, known as Ed Balls Day.

Ed Balls (@edballs) Ed Balls