Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has laughed off an attempt by aides to scrub out his old trainers from a family photo on his website.

The image shows a smiling Mr Morrison casually posing with his wife Jenny, two daughters and the family dog.

But eagle-eyed web users spotted the portrait had been doctored to give the Australian leader whiter-than-white trainers - and two left feet.

Dreadful Photoshop work on the Australian PMs shoes 👟👟 not only is the retouching terrible he’s also been given two left feet! #shoegate 😃 pic.twitter.com/7i1KEslJ3Q — Simon Verrall (@Simon_Verrall) January 9, 2019

The photoshopped image was later changed to the original on Mr Morrison's official website.

But not before it went viral on social media and was ridiculed by users using the hashtag #shoegate.


One person on Twitter wrote: "Dreadful Photoshop work on the Australian PMs shoes ... not only is the retouching terrible he's also been given two left feet! #shoegate."

Another wrote: "Strewth cobbler! Since Oscar-winner, Daniel Day-Lewis retired from the big screen, the sequel to "My Left Foot" seemed a remote possibility, or even shoes too big to fill for any other actor.

"But step forward Aussie PM, @ScottMorrisonMP in "My Left Feet" #shoegate."

One person tweeted that they had "dug some more" and found the original photo showing "the dirty shoes in a Fiji Times article".

Message to my Department (PM&C): I didn’t ask for the shoeshine, but if you must Photoshop, please focus on the hair (lack thereof), not the feet! 😀

Here they are in all their glory - my footwear of choice whenever I can get out of a suit. pic.twitter.com/hKKUstnArq — Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) January 8, 2019

Mr Morrison responded to the controversy on Wednesday with humour by tweeting a picture of his feet in his well-worn trainers and saying that he "didn't ask for the shoeshine" and would have preferred a heavier crop of hair due to the "lack thereof".

He wrote: Message to my Department (PM&C): I didn't ask for the shoeshine, but if you must Photoshop, please focus on the hair (lack thereof), not the feet!

"Here they are in all their glory - my footwear of choice whenever I can get out of a suit."