One Man and a Quokka
';While Qassams continue to rain down on Israel, not to mention foreign leaders for her 60th birthday celebrations, the main news item here in Perth, Western Australia is what the seat-sniffing Opposition leader may or may not have done with a furry animal.
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Seat-sniffing West Australian Opposition Leader Troy Buswell has denied he once abused a quokka on Rottnest Island.
Mr Buswell, who has admitted to sniffing the chair of a former Liberal party colleague and snapping the bra of a Labor staffer, was questioned on the rumours today while attending a press conference at Parliament House.
It followed his sacking from the frontbench yesterday of former leader Paul Omodei, who said recently there would be “more stories” to 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.
“I’m just not interested to be honest with you.”
He said none of his MPs had come to him to report the rumour.
“Members of the press have in passing mentioned the word quokka and suggested to me that something inappropriate in the past may have happened.
“Nothing has, absolutely nothing.”
Quokkas on Rottnest have been targets of abuse before, with former Wallabies rugby backrower Scott Fava fined last year for mistreating one of the marsupials during a drunken incident that became known as the “quokka shocker”.
Mr Buswell today said he found it “quite remarkable that some of these bizarre accusations get legs and due consideration.”
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
No wonder we have a drought here; it’s raining kassams instead of water.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Sometimes you have to treat the “news” as if it were a calculus problem. Yes, the kassams “rain on in” from gazoo. WHY? Mr. Bush is in Israel.
While if you want to look at dangers, you ought to look at Israeli drivers, and what goes on when a driver’s foot hits the gas peddle. For a hint, it doesn’t start wars.
And, this won’t, either. It’s a pretty good idea to fight WHEN YOU WANT; and not when your enemies command your attention.
One thing that goes unmentioned, here? Nasrallah is exhausting his supply of martyr-seekers. And, after burning lots of tires. And, throwing lots of garbage around, all that really happened in Lebanon, is that Saniora couldn’t get the Lebanese Army to move. “Sool-a-man” … Michel, I think. Told Saniora he was going to “order the troops back to the barracks, rather than fight.”
And, Saniora? He just came out, again, and reiterated his hate for Israel. So, why should Israel go there?
Lebanon exists, not as the ‘paris’ of the Mideast, but as the DRUG USERS haven for the best hash hish grown in this world. In the Bakak’ta valley.
If I learned nothing else from WW2, I learned that FDR sat on his hands for years! Till England was nearly bankrupt. (So FDR invented “lend/lease.” But still wasn’t prepared to enter a European war.) FDR was right! You can’t trust the stinking europeans. AND, they’re militaristic and anti-semitic. Of course, WW2 did do something or other to their propensity to spill blood. So? Now on their list is Jewish blood. No different than WW2’s Holocaust.
Ah, but now the Israelis can fight.
And? Well, James Baker, in Bush’s White House, in 2006, thought “that if the IDF went into Damascus to take off Assad’s head” … then Bush would give the prize of syria, to Riyadh. Of course, Olmert didn’t do this.
Next up? In case you missed General Keith Dayton, and then General Fraser; Ehud Barak kicked Fraser, the American general in his kiester. And, Bush, then elevated the man with another star on his cap. This let him “exit gracefully.” Fraser is now in charge of military trucking in the United States.
Lots of stuff doesn’t come out in the press.
While America’s “adventure” in Irak is paying off; because the Iraqis want no part of Riyadh. And, Maliki teeters with his ties to Tehran.
Ahm-a-nut-in-a-dinner-jacket may not survive? You just never know. Because? The arabs rarely put their cards on the table.
And, journalists remain revine. Even in Israel. You gotta read between the lines. Where you can, today, smell a government leak, that at one time made the mobs in the street go crazy. Check this out. Not too many are parading around Rabin Square “asking for change.”
And, Bush? He leaves. If America’s lucky? We won’t be voting for Obama for president. But ya gotta wait. Outcomes only come to pass when they come to pass.
Yes, it’s sad that kassams still fly. But what’s the price of solution? Versus what’s the price of “waiting it out,” till you choose to enter the fray?
Riyadh hopes Israel loses patience. Do you know why? Bush would hand over anything gained on the ground, right away, to Abbas. And, he’s not worth it.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
I think people are missing the point of the story, an Australian MP MAY have sexually abused an endangered species.
I don’t know about you but I like any story that distracts me from the serious parts of life, especially when it’s about complete idiots doing bizarre and/ or disgusting things that most people wouldn’t think about.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:29 am
The Qassams have been raining in from Gaza irregardless of Mr Bush’s presence in the region. It is a daily occurrence.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Carol- That really rationalizes the MP abusing the furry little fella. Wow! And to think that we were looking in other directions for the explanation.
And Dave- The audio overlay on your site really messes with my AT&T Air Card speed. I can’t open your site without seeing “Errors on Page”. I’ll check back later.
nuf sed
May 15th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Frankly,
My site has an audio overlay??
May 15th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Hi,
I guess you know of Andrew Bolt, being an aussie and all, but Matt Hayden has ‘fessed up to starting it all…
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_quokka_mocker_confesses_buswell_is_innocent/
May 15th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Maybe he’s referring to the John Voight video self starting. That’s what’s happening to me when I open your home page.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:21 am
[...] seen anything about this in the media. I suppose they are too busy reporting the follow-up to Quokka-gate, although it’s also possible they have not yet heard of the [...]