Well, he's "no Bill Gates" all right. Tony Abbott has practically attributed the invention of the Internet to Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull in his speech Friday.

The Opposition Leader launched his pre-election pitch in Canberra just a couple of days after the Labor party's Prime Minister switcheroo. He took aim at the now prime minister, Kevin Rudd, challenging the "recycled prime minister" on his leadership and calling him on his "ego."

His speech was largely about Rudd and the Labor's policies, which was just typical of speeches given by opposition sides. But halfway through his speech, Abbott singled out Turnbull, praising him for an unwarranted achievement.

"We have a strong and credible broadband policy because the man who has devised it, the man who will implement it, virtually invented the Internet in this country... thank you so much, Malcolm Turnbull," he said.

Yes, he was joking, or at least the people in the room who laughed at his bizarre claim thought so. But given Abbott's history, a lot of Aussies online doubt if he really meant it as a joke.

Perhaps Abbott was referring to Turnbull's business acumen when he invested in the Internet Service Provider OzEmail in the early '90s. Turnbull was one of the key investor and original directors of the company.

OzEmail was originally founded by Sean Howard, the magazine editor of Australian Personal Computer, in 1992. Turnbull invested in the company with $500,000 stake in 1994, and subsequently sold his share for $57 million to WorldCom in 1999.

That's hardly even close to "inventing the Internet" in Australia, but as Abbott was apparently just kidding, then perhaps that's just okay.

It's just that there are those who didn't find it funny.

"Malcolm Turnbull invented the Internet. Scott Morrison first harnessed the power of electricity. Christopher Pyne slew the Nemean Lion," Twitter user tim burgess wrote.

Another user named Anna Cushion added, "Abbott is not allowed to play with my Internets. He clearly needs childlock on all the time."

Abbott's "internet" quote is now trending online, and maybe will even gain fame equal to his "I'm no Bill Gates" speech back in 2010. The hashtage #thingsmalcolmturnbullinvented is also trending, with Twitter users posting other invention of just about anything that they sarcastically attribute to Turnbull, such as leather jackets, greed, sliced bread, and hashtags.