Jacqui Lambie flays cartoonist over doctored image posted on her Facebook page A row has broken out over the use of a doctored Canberra Times cartoon by Palmer United party (PUP) senator Jacqui Lambie, who has angrily denied plagiarism and criticised the cartoonist for defending his work. On Monday an altered version of a cartoon originally published by the Fairfax newspaper in June was posted on Lambie's Facebook page. The cartoon's caption had been changed to reflect Lambie's views on the defence force's 1.5% pay deal. The original, drawn by David Pope, is reproduced with permission here. Original David Pope cartoon Photograph: . Earlier in the week, an employee of the Canberra Times rang Lambie's office to alert her staff to the plagiarism. On Wednesday, Pope tweeted the altered image with the statement, "politicians re-captioning cartoons without permission for their own political purposes [probably] needs to be discouraged." That prompted an angry spray from Lambie. Dear David, thank you for ringing my office and alerting us to the fact that a cartoon I received from the thousands of emails I receive weekly and posted on my face book [sic] is a fake. The offending pic has been immediacy [sic] removed. Until my office received your email confirming your phone call and showing the offending cartoon, my staff thought they were talking to an idiot or the subject a prank radio call," Lambie wrote in a statement released to the media. "Given that you've now accused me of altering the original "Pope Cartoon" for my own evil political purposes, I'm now seeking advise [sic] from my solicitor. After carefully examining the cartoon and reading its "fake" comments, I have to admit that we're dealing with an exceptional offender - a cartoon forger, who not only is a criminal master mind, but has uncanny powers of observations. "When you refer this matter to fraud squad, which I'm sure you're about to do - as soon as your [sic] finish writing your cheap beat up - I mean serious political expose" [sic] - please ask that they contact me a.s.a.p. I'm happy to co-operate fully," she said. I've been impressed by your anger and self-righteous rage over this important matter. Are you and the Canberra Times as angry about the case of the "Fake Pope Cartoon" as you are about the Liberals ripping off pay and entitlements from our Defence Families and Veterans? We look forward to your insightful writings. No doubt you'll give Mr Tolstoy a run for his money and collect that Walkley for outstanding journalism. Pope denied personally calling Lambie over the cartoon, and said her statement was over the top. "The tone is ugly and unwarranted," Pope said on Twitter. "The sane response would have been "sorry, didn't realise, let's take it down [and] keep focused on the issue." Pope said he wasn't considering taking legal action over the plagiarism. It is not the first time Lambie has come under fire for reposting doctored images. In September she posted an image on Facebook of a woman wearing a burqa and firing a gun as part of her push to ban the Islamic headwear. The original photo was revealed to be of Afghanistan's first female police officer, Malala Kakar, who was shot and killed by the Taliban in 2008. The image was doctored by far-right party Britain First without the permission of photographer Lana Slezic. Lambie defended her use of the image, and accused Slezic of "viciously attacking" her.