Unfortunate shop sign for PM's visit

If only Tony Abbott had entered from the right.

Instead the prime minister chose the opposite end of a Canberra shopping centre to begin a staged media event on Thursday.

Right in front of The Reject Shop.

Photographers and television film crews couldn't believe their luck.

Otherwise standard images of a confected visit to a small business suddenly became, as one media outlet tweeted, "the picture that will haunt Tony Abbott for years to come".

The prime minister was snapped standing in front of the words "The Reject". The word "Shop" was conveniently out of the frame.

Mr Abbott could have arrived at his destination - Elite Meats - by passing Kingsley's Chicken instead.

But he wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

After a tour, a chat to reporters and buying six cutlets with two $50 notes he pulled from his pocket, the prime minister left via the butcher's back door.

Not before he was given some jerky to nibble on for the ride back to parliament.