The video, made for ABC radio station Triple J, shows the Prime Minister “addressing” the nation and deadpanning to the camera: “My dear remaining fellow Australians. The end of the world is coming.
"It wasn't Y2K, it wasn't even the carbon price. It turns out the Mayan calendar was true."
But it seems the online Chinese community missed the joke.
Hours after the parody video was posted, Weibo users started forwarding a post with the heading: "Australian Prime Minister states end of the world is approaching this month: this is real," Fairfax media reports.
Even though Chinese subtitles accompanied the video, many were baffled that the Prime Minister would publicly 'mislead' her country.
User Chen Yue Cyanni wrote: "Why has the Prime Minister of Australia been convinced that all this end of the world business is true when this type of thing has no scientific basis? She's misleading her country."
Another user sleepeat posted: “This can't be possible, that a head of state is talking this way."
It's the not the first time the Chinese have fallen for glaringly obvious jokes.
Last month, the People's Daily newspaper ran a story by satirical publication, the Onion, which crowned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as the 'Sexiest Man Alive'.
