Australians do it down under

Buswell fends off quokka rumours | The Australian:

WEST Australian Opposition leader Troy Buswell has admitted to chair-sniffing in the past but today he denied having done anything untoward to a quokka.

Mr Buswell, who has also admitted to snapping the bra of a Labor staffer, faced question at Parliament House after sacked frontbencher Paul Omodei had said “more stories” would emerge about Mr Buswell and that his leadership would “die the death of a thousand cuts”.

Asked if he had done anything inappropriate to a quokka, Mr Buswell replied: “No”.

Asked if he was aware of any rumours about actions involving the small marsupials, which are indigenous to Rottnest Island, Mr Buswell said: “I have absolutely no idea about these stories of quokkas on Rottnest.

“I'm not being backward in saying that I'm not a perfect individual and you know I've had a robust past and there may be elements of that that have proved offensive to people.

“I don't shy away away from that at all, but I'm not aware that I've caused any offence to a quokka.”

Asked how the rumours had started, Mr Buswell said: “I have no idea.

“I'm not going to comment on it. All I've heard is people use the word quokka and then smile and laugh."

Yep.

A staffer explains what he means by "robust past":

"We finished the meeting, I walked the bloke downstairs and out of parliament and when I got back I walked into the room to pick up my notepad from the desk and Buswell started grabbing the chairs going: 'Aahww, which one did you sit in? I'll be able to tell'," she said.

"And then he picked them up and started sniffing them and groaning and making sexually satisfying noises.

"I went, 'you're sick, knock it off', grabbed my staff and walked out, but he didn't pay attention to a word I said."

The woman, who is well-known by most state MPs, came back to the office 10 minutes later when she and some colleagues wanted to ask one of Mr Buswell's staff members to come to lunch.

"Buswell opened the door really wide, grabbed a chair and started sniffing it, lifted it above his head sniffing it and breathing in, going, 'Aaww, yeah," she said. "It was awful. My colleagues - the four men I worked with - were just stunned into silence."

Our presidential campaign would be much better if we had more scandals like this.

H/T Quiggin.