diff --git a/cluster-api/cloud/google/pods.go b/cluster-api/cloud/google/pods.go
index 158413682..f4611a7c7 100644
--- a/cluster-api/cloud/google/pods.go
+++ b/cluster-api/cloud/google/pods.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 )
 
-var machineControllerImage = "gcr.io/k8s-cluster-api/machine-controller:0.15"
+var machineControllerImage = "gcr.io/k8s-cluster-api/machine-controller:0.16"
 
 func init() {
 	if img, ok := os.LookupEnv("MACHINE_CONTROLLER_IMAGE"); ok {
diff --git a/cluster-api/machine-controller/Makefile b/cluster-api/machine-controller/Makefile
index 6626169e0..0caa19462 100644
--- a/cluster-api/machine-controller/Makefile
+++ b/cluster-api/machine-controller/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 PROJECT=k8s-cluster-api
 NAME=machine-controller
-VERSION=0.15
+VERSION=0.16
 
 staticbuild:
 	CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux go build -a -ldflags '-extldflags "-static"' .
diff --git a/cluster-api/machine-controller/controller/machinecontroller.go b/cluster-api/machine-controller/controller/machinecontroller.go
index b014bc59f..94c2b8216 100644
--- a/cluster-api/machine-controller/controller/machinecontroller.go
+++ b/cluster-api/machine-controller/controller/machinecontroller.go
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ type MachineController struct {
 	clusterClient *client.ClusterAPIV1Alpha1Client
 	actuator      cloud.MachineActuator
 	nodeWatcher   *NodeWatcher
+	machineClient client.MachinesInterface
 	runner        *asyncRunner
 }
 
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ func NewMachineController(config *Configuration) *MachineController {
 		clusterClient: clusterClient,
 		actuator:      actuator,
 		nodeWatcher:   nodeWatcher,
+		machineClient: machineClient,
 		runner: newAsyncRunner(),
 	}
 }
@@ -197,6 +199,15 @@ func (c *MachineController) create(machine *clusterv1.Machine) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Sometimes old events get replayed even though they have already been processed by this
+	// controller. Temporarily work around this by checking if the machine CRD actually exists
+	// on create.
+	_, err = c.machineClient.Get(machine.ObjectMeta.Name, metav1.GetOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Errorf("Skipping machine create due to error getting machine %v: %v\n", machine.ObjectMeta.Name, err)
+		return err
+	}	
+
 	return c.actuator.Create(cluster, machine)
 }