Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus: How Taylor’s 2019 Facebook post turned into a viral political meme

Friday saw the Liberals elect Angus Taylor as their new leader — and the congratulations are rolling in via a very familiar viral throwback.

Taylor won the leadership vote 34-17, dumping the Opposition’s first female leader Sussan Ley, after just nine months. However, he will now face the uphill battle of leading the Liberal’s in 2026 after the party’s worst ever election result.

But to understand the congratulatory statement that is flooding social media in the wake of his win, we have to go back almost seven years: before the federal election, before COVID, and when Taylor was the minister for energy in the Morrison government.

In the weeks leading up to Scott Morrison’s shock “unwinnable election” victory over Bill Shorten, Taylor was firmly focused on home-turf issues, celebrating more commuter carparks in his seat of Hume.

“1000 extra carparks for rail commuters right across the north of Hume!” he wrote online, sharing a video of himself outside a local station.

Nothing out of the ordinary. But deep in the comments section alongside a stream of praise from Hume car-park lovers, one comment stood out. Three statements, three separate sentences, the strongest of congratulations: “Fantastic. Great Move. Well Done Angus.”

The commenter? Angus Taylor MP.

The comment was quickly deleted but not before screenshots went viral. His office declined to say how it happened — one potential explanation was that a close member of staff planned to comment from their personal account but forgot to switch from their work account.

Whatever the explanation, the Facebook slip-up embarked on a life of its own.

But critics in and beyond the political bubble haven’t forgotten. Content that Taylor shared online about quitting the shadow cabinet and launching his leadership bid were swamped with the same tongue-in-cheek refrain.

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Richard Marles mocked Taylor by invoking the viral catchphrase while referencing his recent military base video: “Fantastic, great move, well done Angus!”

And once he was declared new leader of the Liberals on Friday, it’s no surprise that there was almost solely one way he was congratulated online.

The viral phrase, which will no doubt continue popping up under videos Taylor shares online, is a testament to the internet’s love of simple, instantly meme-able comedy that only snowballs as it’s circulated to the masses.

The real question is whether the viral explosion amounts to harmless publicity, or whether it risks cementing the new Liberal leader’s image as a national laughing stock.

Either way, for now, as Taylor officially becomes leader of the Opposition, there’s only one thing to be said.

Well Done Angus.