Jimmy Barnes has hit out at federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg for using his name to promote his “shitty” policies at Port Kembla on Monday.
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Mr Frydenberg and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited the BlueScope steelworks at Port Kembla to push the government’s national energy guarantee.
After a tour of the plant, the pair joined outgoing CEO Paul O’Malley and his replacement Mark Vassella for a press conference, where Mr Frydenberg invoked the image of Barnsey.
“More than 30 years ago Jimmy Barnes came to Port Kembla to make the film clip for Working Class Man,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“Well, today the Prime Minister has come to Port Kembla to create jobs for working-class men and women.
“And the way we will do that is by driving energy prices lower.”
The speech backfired, at least as far as Barnsey was concerned.
Mr Barnes was most unhappy with the Liberal minister using his name and his most well-known song and took to Twitter.
“Hey Josh Frydenberg don’t use my name or my songs to sell your shitty policies. You don’t represent me,” he tweeted.
The tweet received thousands of likes and retweets.
Mr Frydenberg responded to the tweet, stating “I’m a big fan of Barnsey’s music, No offence was intended”.