The Liberal Party has made a copyright complaint against a Labor election video, which has seen the clip taken down by YouTube.
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The clip was first posted on Tuesday morning and was pulled sometime later that night, although it can still be viewed on a Labor Facebook page.
The video is a spoof of the Liberal Party's first election campaign ad, "New Hope".
The original Liberal ad features a Tony Abbott voiceover that begins: "Australia has always been a land of opportunity, a place where every day can be a great day. And we've grown as a nation because we believe in having a go ..." and features images such as a mother with a baby, school children and workers.
The Labor version, "The Liberal's New Hope (for power)" features the same images but with a voiceover that begins: “Australia has always been a land of opportunity, and the Liberals have an opportunity to take power again. And we'll do anything it takes to get there. We'll say we're in it for the kids, but we'll actually cut the schools kids bonus ..."
A spokesman for Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne told Fairfax Media that the Liberal Party "alerted YouTube to the offending ad which was a violation of the terms of service for gross breach of copyright. This was upheld by YouTube and the ad was removed."
The Liberal Party also suggested the clip was pulled from YouTube because it was "dishonest" and a "dirty ad"- although the ad was issued with an infringement notice due to copyright reasons.
"Today YouTube have taken down a offensive ad from the Labor Party that was a negative attack on the Liberal Party. So YouTube itself have removed an ad that they regarded as offensive," Mr Pyne told reporters on Wednesday.
The Liberal Party also tweeted: "Wheels coming off @AustralianLabor, dishonest ad pulled from YouTube" with a link to "fight back" by donating to the Liberal campaign.
The Labor Party does not appear to be concerned by the ad's removal from YouTube, pointing viewers instead to a Facebook page that contains the clip.
"Have you seen our spoof of the Libs first TV ad? They can't take a joke & got YouTube to ban it. Well, watch it here," the ALP posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
It is understood the ALP will not fight the copyright complaint. A Labor source said that the claim would not affect other Labor videos that were currently in the pipeline.
Fairfax Media understands that YouTube does not "ban" videos, but its terms of service allow for clips to be taken down if they breach community guidelines, such as containing hate speech, or if there is a copyright dispute in progress.
