While in office, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was criticised for being stuck in the past, so perhaps his mode of resignation Tuesday made perfect sense.
After being ousted by Malcolm Turnbull in a dramatic Liberal Party vote on Monday night, Abbott chose to tender his resignation to Governor-General Peter Cosgrove via fax, Channel 9 journalist Laurie Oakes reported.
RESIGNED BY FAX: @LaurieOakes reports @TonyAbbottMHR did not go to Government House to tender resignation. He faxed it.— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) September 15, 2015
For those of you who can't recall -- a fax machine sends and receives messages over a telephone line, and it looks something like this:
To be fair, fax machines are not uncommon in offices such as law firms, and apparently, in Parliament House. Nevertheless, the Australian public received the news with the level of delight you'd expect.
You think its pretty hilarious that Abbott resigned by fax but it pretty much matches up with Marty McFly getting fired by fax in 80s 2015.— Curtlo Ren (@lenier) September 16, 2015
Tony Abbott resigned by fax to Knight Peter Cosgrove & then hopped in a horse drawn cart and galloped into the distance #libspill #byetones— Amanda Thompson (@___thompson) September 16, 2015
Love how Abbott resigned by fax. Clearly he couldn't find a telegraph office or it'd have been delivered by Morse Code. #auspol— Daniel Best (@20thCenturyDan) September 16, 2015
Showing a little more affinity with the technology of the 21st century, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton tendered his resignation to the new prime minister in a text message, Sky News reported. Turnbull has yet to accept his offer.
It's expected that Australia's new prime minister will announce his cabinet reshuffle on Monday.