His comments have not only sparked outrage, they also join a long line of political gaffe-tweets both in Australia and around the world.

In Britain last year, Conservative MP Aidan Burley created problems for Downing Street when he tweeted that the Olympics opening ceremony was ''multicultural crap''. During his time as Californian governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted a video of himself talking about the state budget . . . and brandishing a massive knife.

Here are some top local examples:

1. Steve Gibbons (November 2012)

Labor backbencher Steve Gibbons had the tweeps-a-flutter when he posted that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was as ''gutless douchebag'' and his deputy, Julie Bishop, was a ''narcissistic bimbo''.

Given the sensitivities over sexism in parliament, the comment was not particularly helpful in the last sitting week of the year.

Mr Gibbons later offered a sort-of apology on Twitter, saying: ''Apologies to those offended by the use of the word Bimbo [sic]. I'll replace that word with 'Fool' [sic].]'' He also deleted the offending tweets.

But that wasn't enough for the PM. After being disciplined by Julia Gillard, Mr Gibbons made a more fulsome apology, tweeting: ''to all those offended by my Tweet [sic] posts this morning - I unreservedly apologise''.

2. Brendan O'Connor (January 2013)

Housing Minister Brendan O'Connor felt the heat when he described Mr Abbott's volunteer firefighting as as ''stunt'' at the height of a national bushfire crisis last week. Mr O'Connor retweeted a tweet Mr Abbott sent on Tuesday about the fires - ''I'm now on my way to Sydney to be on standby with my local fire brigade'' - and added the hashtag ''standbystunt''.

Mr O'Connor soon deleted the tweet and apologised: ''Apologies for any offence. I respect and acknowledge the critical work of all our volunteer firefighters including Tony Abbott.''

But not before Liberal MPs expressed their unhappiness. In response, Liberal Jamie Briggs tweeted: ''Brendan O'Connor has highlighted just how nasty and vicious Labor's campaign will be this year.''

3. Nick Sowden (April 2010)

The Queensland Liberal-National Party expelled young member, Nick Sowden, in 2010, after Sowden compared US President Obama to a monkey.

Mr Sowden, then a 22-year old student, was tweeting Kerry O'Brien's interview with Mr Obama on the 7.30 Report.

''If i wanted to see a monkey on TV id [sic] watch Wildlife Rescue #justsaying #obama730,'' Mr Sowden said.

He also observed: "Im [sic] not sure why they paid kerry to fly to america. if they wanted an interview with a monkey surely a Ferry to Taronga would have sufficed."

Mr Sowden later apologised, explaining his comments were meant to be a joke against the Tea Party movement.

4. Peter Phelps (December 2011)

The NSW upper house government whip has not taken kindly to criticism on Twitter. After one Twitter user said Dr Phelps needed a ''good punch in the head'', the Liberal MP replied: ''go f*** yourself, commie! And you can't complain because I put in smiley ;-).''

Premier Barry O'Farrell was mobilised into action by the comment. "There's no place for using profanities here. You can have robust exchanges (even with pol opponents) without offending community standards,'' he posted in response.

But Dr Phelps was initially - at least - unrepentant: "If people are rude to me, I reserve the right to be rude back. I'm working class lad not a bourgeois toady."

5. Joe Hockey (November 2009)

During Liberal leadership tensions in late 2009 - when he was positioning himself for the top gig - Mr Hockey asked Twitter what they thought on the contentious Emissions Trading Scheme.

''Hey team re The ETS. Give me your views please on the policy and political debate. I really want your feedback.''

Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull was for ETS, and challenger Tony Abbott was against. The tweet made Hockey look like he didn't have a view. It was also panned by then acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

"He can't govern the nation by tweet," she said. "People don't expect their politicians to just text out a message - imagine, you know, 'What do you think the defence budget should be?''

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