An Australian MP has come under scrutiny after delivering a dramatic speech that drew considerable comparisons to an oration featured in a hit '90s television show.
Victorian Labor Party politician Will Fowles, 42, has been called out by media commentators for lifting quotes from fictional US President Jed Bartlet, portrayed by actor Martin Sheen in the American political drama, The West Wing.
Fowles, who holds the Burwood seat, addressed COVID-19 in his 90-second speech to parliament on Tuesday, praising Victoria's healthcare workers.
"We did not expect, nor did we invite, this confrontation with a ferocious and feckless enemy," he said.
The spiel quickly came under the microscope as commentators rushed to compare it to fictional President Bartlet's line, "We did not expect, nor did we invite, a confrontation with evil" from an episode of The West Wing.
Fowles again appeared to borrow from Bartlet when he praised healthcare workers' "limitless" resolve.
"If we think we have reached the limit of our resolve, we need only to look to these heroes and decide that our resolve may well be limitless," he said.
Melbourne-based talkback radio show 3AW's political reporter, James Talia, was first to point out the line's similarity to the Bartlet quote: "Every time we think we’ve measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re reminded that that capacity may well be limitless."
Speaking on the station on Wednesday morning, Talia said he asked Fowles whether he had deliberately or unintentionally referenced The West Wing in his address - and discovered the MP was indeed, a big fan of the show.
"He has said that he has phrases that are kind of lodged in his brain from various different places and [Tuesday's speech] was an unconscious homage to The West Wing's creator, who he describes as one of the greatest political speechwriters we've ever seen," Talia explained.
Fowles made headlines last year for damaging a room at Canberra's Abode Hotel during a fit of rage, citing anxiety as the reason but not "the excuse".
The West Wing came to an end in 2006 after seven seasons and featured an ensemble cast including Martin Sheen, John Spencer, Rob Lowe and Allison Janney. It has been consistently ranked among the best television shows of all time.
