Suppository gaffe makes Tony Abbott the butt of the world's jokes

There have been numerous moments of late when the day-to-day workings of Australian politics filter on to the world's news agenda; think Julia Gillard's misogyny speech; the leadership spill that never was; and then the spill that was. But never has the opposition leader Tony Abbott been the protagonist. That was until Monday.

As Abbott stood among the Liberal party faithful in Melbourne, glancing from side to side and surveying those loyally assembled, he let rip with a malapropism to rival even those of the infamously tongue-tied former US president George W Bush. "No one," said Abbott, "however smart, however well-educated, however experienced … is the suppository of all wisdom."

It was meant as a humble, man-of-the-people moment from the Rhodes scholar, who was making a dig at the prime minister, Kevin Rudd. Instead he became a global figure of ridicule.

He "hit a bum note" in the words of Britain's Independent; it was a "memorable slip of the tongue", according to CNN (which also felt the need to dictionary define suppository); NPR sympathised – the US radio network has had to post countless "correctums" over the years.

Billy Bragg, the beloved British songwriter who spent his heyday constructing lyrical anti-Thatcher songs, couldn't resist the crude opportunity, either. "Sounds like Tony Abbott's been talking out of his arse again," he tweeted.

And so it was that Abbott's first real moment on the global news stage was probably not what the carefully media-managed politician would have wanted.

Come the election on 7 September he'll be hoping for more positive headlines. Until then, he might have to clench hard and enjoy the ride.