The West Australian today carries a “snap” Westpoll survey of 413 voters showing 50 per cent think the beleagured Troy Buswell should resign as state Opposition Leader following the revelation of his chair-sniffing indiscretion. The poll also has Buswell in third place as preferred Liberal leader with 12 per cent support, behind former leaders Matt Birney (21 per cent) and Colin Barnett (19 per cent). These figures will further stir a pot which could yet come to boil either with Buswell’s resignation (suggested as a serious possibility by “several MPs” cited in The West), or at the spill motion to be called on Tuesday by party whip Graham Jacobs with the backing of front-bencher John Day.
The favoured scenario among most of the anti-Buswell group is a return by Barnett, who stepped aside after leading the party to defeat at the previous election. However, Barnett seems determined to follow through with his plans to quit politics, and a successor has already been preselected for his blue-ribbon western suburbs seat of Cottesloe. The other obvious contender should surely be Birney, Barnett’s immediate successor, whom the party foolishly dumped for the unelectably mediocre Paul Omodei at the first whiff of a bad opinion poll. Birney too had proclaimed his intention to jump ship at the coming election, but is now reconsidering. But for whatever reason, there is reportedly a view that Birney has considerably less party room support now than at the time of his one-vote defeat at the hands of Omodei in March 2006.
The circumstances of that fiasco are worth revisiting, as it was widely believed in the party that Troy Buswell swung the outcome after pledging his vote to Birney and then supporting Omodei. Hillarys MP Rob Johnson, who had built a high media profile as Shadow Justice Minister, declared at the time: “His cowardly and gutless disloyalty will be the start of his demise and I think you will find the shining star of Troy Buswell will diminish over the coming months. Let me tell you, if he is the future of the Liberal Party then God help the Liberal Party.” Johnson’s prediction initially appeared to be misplaced, with speculation soon emerging that Buswell was preparing a move against the floundering Omodei. The party’s disastrous showing at the February 2007 Peel by-election confirmed Omodei’s likely status as a stop-gap leader, and he spent the rest of the year battling the perception he would be gone after the federal election was out of the way.
Just as Buswell’s plot neared fruition in January, the Albany Advertiser published a well-timed letter by Omodei’s electorate officer Ron Scott, alerting the world at large to the “bra-snapping” incident involving a Labor staffer in a parliamentary office. Significantly, there were also hints at the time of other skeletons in the closet which Buswell’s foes might see fit to expose at the appropriate juncture. Buswell then announced he would not proceed with his challenge after all, as he needed “more experience in the House and more time to develop before I could be considered for that position”. This prompted the West Australian to editorialise that the party “must persuade Troy Buswell that while his behaviour in Parliament last October was juvenile, stupid and not befitting of a member of Parliament, it was not so reprehensible that he need rule himself out of leadership contention”. This echoed the feeling in the party room, and Buswell was prevailed upon to pursue a leadership vote which Omodei ultimately did not contest. Rob Johnson confirmed his ongoing hostility to Buswell by throwing his hat into the ring, but reportedly found little support.
Other episodes of discontent with the Buswell ascendancy underscored the perception that the new leader had a less than soft touch with the opposite sex. Shadow Tourism Minister Katie Hodson-Thomas, who two days earlier claimed Buswell had made “inappropriate remarks” to her in front of a “large number” of male colleagues, announced on the morning of the spill that she would not contest the coming election. The only other female Liberal in the lower house, Shadow Attorney-General Sue Walker, did not show up for the spill and kept herself out of contact for the following fortnight. She then emerged to announce she was quitting the Liberal Party to contest the election as an independent, damning Buswell as “untrustworthy”. Another departure from the party was former deputy leader Dan Sullivan, a Matt Birney loyalist who had been left homeless after the redistribution abolished his seat of Leschenault. The West Australian recently reported Sullivan was “considering forming a special interest party to run for an Upper House South-West seat”.
As well as the two former leaders, some less familiar hopefuls have been testing the leadership waters (nobody has mentioned Omodei, who in any case is pursuing an upper house berth after the redistribution left his seat vulnerable to the Nationals). Shadow Treasurer Steve Thomas – like Buswell a newcomer at the 2005 election representing a seat in the south-west – says he will “consider his options” if the spill motion succeeds. However, Thomas faces the difficulty that his seat of Capel has been abolished, forcing him to compete with popular Labor member Mick Murray in the new seat of Collie-Preston, which by Antony Green’s reckoning has a slight notional Labor majority. Deputy leader Kim Hames says he will oppose the spill motion, but The West Australian “understands” he will nominate if it succeeds. Rob Johnson, whom many in the party suspect of being the source for the Sunday Times’ report on Buswell’s chair-sniffing activities, has ruled himself out, saying he does not expect the spill motion to succeed in any case.
All of which would leave Alan Carpenter eagerly eyeing his election date calendar. Western Australia does not have fixed terms, so in theory he can call an election for the Legislative Assembly at any time. However, he faces two very significant complications. One is familiar from the federal level: while terms for the lower house are flexible, the Legislative Council has a fixed expiry date of 21 May 2009, and its election must be called no earlier than a year before that date. Given the minimum 31-day period that must follow the issue of the writs, the earliest possible date for an election for both houses is June 21. The second difficulty relates to the ultimate date of expiry of the next Legislative Assembly, which depends on the date of the first sitting of parliament after the election (there is presumably an equivalent to the requirement of Section 5 of the Australian Constitution that the first sitting of parliament take place no later than 30 days after the return of the writs). If this comes after August 31, the next Assembly will expire on January 31, 2013. Otherwise it will be a full year earlier – in which case simultaneous elections at the subsequent poll will be impossible, as the earliest date for a Legislative Council election will be June 2012 (the expiry date being May 2013). Carpenter is thus effectively constrained from calling an election before August, for a date earlier than September.
UPDATE (3/5/08): Today’s West Australian offers remarkable talk of a party split if Buswell does not step aside. One “senior delegate” quoted by the paper predicts he will agree to do so, but there are no shortage of opinions to the contrary. In any case, The West says the spill motion is set to fail by between three and seven votes out of 31, although Amanda O’Brien of The Australian reports “it is believed many have not made up their minds what to do”. The West says that if Buswell goes, deputy leader Kim Hames is “likely to defeat Shadow Treasurer Steve Thomas in a leadership ballot”.
UPDATE (4/5/08): Another tumultuous day for the Liberals as Paul Omodei quits the party and declares Buswell “unfit to lead” after effectively being rejected for upper house preselection by the state council conference. Last month local preselectors voted to give Omodei the safe number two spot on the South West ticket, which itself followed an initial ballot that reduced him to unwinnable number four. This was overturned by the party’s appeals committee on the grounds that eligible delegates had not been invited to the meeting. For whatever reason, the party’s state council conference has now decided to reinstate the original outcome, putting Omodei behind Robyn McSweeney, Nigel Hallett and Barry House (those who think this an unconscionable way to treat a senior front-bencher are reminded that Omodei refused to stand and fight in the lower house seat of Blackwood-Stirling because he risked losing to the Nationals). As well as Buswell himself, Omodei is blaming Senator Mathias Cormann and state upper house MP Peter Collier, operatives of a faction known as the “northern alliance” due to its power base in the northern suburbs. The conference also decided not to proceed with threats to block the preselection of Rob Johnson, after the unnamed woman at the centre of the chair-sniffing incident vehemently denied he was the source of last week’s Sunday Times story. It’s not all one-way traffic though: this week the Sunday Times reports of rumoured inappropriate behavior by Alan Carpenter at a party social event four years ago. The claim is strongly denied by Carpenter, but he might have hoped for a more emphatic statement of support by witness Louise Pratt, former state upper house MP and soon-to-be Senator.
UPDATE (5/5/08): Reports in The West Australian and The Australian give an impression Buswell will narrowly survive today’s spill motion, if only for the want of a credible alternative. Four months after arguing that “juvenile” and “stupid” behaviour by Troy Buswell “was not so reprehensible that he need rule himself out of leadership contention”, The West Australian today offers a front page editorial which begins:
Today is the day of reckoning for the WA Liberal Party: if it retains Troy Buswell as leader, the party will be condoning sexual harassment in the workplace, treachery and dishonesty. By dumping him, MPs will show they are prepared to implement the ideals their party has long advocated.
The matter of Buswell’s honesty was of no concern to the paper in January: now it talks of “the ease with which he employs deviousness and downright dishonesty in a bid to achieve his personal ambition”. We are even told that Buswell’s “knifing of another of his leaders, Paul Omodei” showed he “had not lost his appetite for hacking down those ahead of him on the greasy pole” – an interesting interpretation of actions The West had openly advocated. The paper’s call for Buswell’s departure has been echoed elsewhere in the media by The Australian’s state political reporter Amanda O’Brien and in various television news bulletins by the ubiquitous Peter van Onselen, Edith Cowan University academic and John Howard biographer. Van Onselen told the Sunday Times yesterday he had been approached by “several senior Liberals seeking advice on how to form a new party”, apparently with a view to usurping the established Liberal Party as the Nationals’ coalition partner. The ranks of conservative independents in parliament now includes recently disaffected Liberals Sue Walker and Dan Sullivan along with the established Elizabeth Constable and Janet Woollard (many Liberals would dispute the conservative credentials of the latter), and is soon to be joined by Paul Omodei (who has not yet formally resigned, and is threatening to show up for the spill motion). The West also reports that the initiator of the spill motion, Graham Jacobs, is refusing to comment on his future with the party if Buswell survives.
UPDATE (6/5/08 3pm): ABC Radio reports the spill motion has been defeated.
I’m not sure whether it’s the Liberals in my home state of Queensland or the ones in WA that are the bigger joke. Certainly the WA Libs have been providing more laughs this week.
Hi Mr Bowe,
Why no minute by minute coverage of the race to be Mayor of London? Everyone’s favourite spin doctor Lynton Crosby is trying to get the pathetic tory Johnson over the line. What fun! And against a gay cop and a communist.
The WA Libs are not without some chance at the election. I feel Buswell’s a gonner no matter what, though. Even if he toughs it out for a while, politicians just can’t ride out this sort of scandal, once it passes that hard-to-define point. And he’s passed it.
More here: http://tasmanianpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/05/buswell-deader-than-can-of-spam.html
Perhaps Buswell would get pre-selection for the Labor Party in Wooloongong? They have the vacancies; he has the right mind set.
As an aside, this situation illustrates the folly of an overly partisan press. When in WA I read the West Australian and it struck me as an abysmal paper – journalistic quality down to Advertiser standards despite beign in a city with an expanding market. It was also painfully biased towards the Liberal Party. So people like Buswell get a largely unscrutinised ride to the top, and then get exposed for what they are and embarrass the whole party.
Seriously, Buswell looks to have damaged the party in WA so badly in credibility (and having any chance for winning the 51% of voters who are female) that all those who voted for him in the leadership contest share some guilt. If you work with a guy like this for several years, presumably know what he is like, and so if you then vote for him anyway, you deserve to suffer the consequences.
hadnt buswell already had the bra incident prior to his election to the leadership? what were they thinking? and, chair sniffing?? surely a new low in crude behaviour
I really doubt the WA Libs will win the next state election but I will say this much. I remember clearly Bolt and other commentators predicting doom for Federal Labor at the following election after Latham imploded. One argument went “how would anyone vote for a party that elected a leader like Latham?” We know the result of that next election.
Gary Bruce,
I don’t think there’s enough talent in the WA parliamentary Liberal Party. Anyone who isn’t a misogynist arsehole, or incompetent has retired, is retiring or is running as an independent.
“I don’t think there’s enough talent in the WA parliamentary Liberal Party.”
I think this applies in a large part to all the state/territory branches of both sides of politics. The available political talent (such as it is) is very thinly spread over nine governments. Most of the truly ambitious politicians (and aspiring politicians) want a seat in Canberra – not Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, etc. Look at the way Turnbull spurned a slot in the NSW parliament (and the leadership on a silver platter) just to get Wentworth (and challenge the sitting Lib in the process). This country is overgoverned – and that by itself wouldn’t bother me too much if it weren’t for the fact that state politicians are typically even worse than their federal counterparts. Mediocre (and sometimes downright awful) state Labor govts are kept in power by conservative oppositions that are even worse, sometimes by orders of magnitude.
(Rant concludes.)
William, I’m sure you’re right about the dates (particularly since Antony Green said the same thing on another thread and the two of you would never both be wrong on the same thing). Nevertheless, I can’t work out what would stop Carpenter having the election in July (say) and waiting until September for parliament to sit. After all, wasn’t it two and a half months between Rudds election and the first sitting of parliament (admittedly with Christmas as a justification).
To be honest, I don’t know enough WA Constitutional Law to answer. Unlike other states, WA has never put together a consolidated Constitution Act that sets out all the details of the rules governing elections, parliamentary sittings, etc. The provisions are distributed across a number of Acts.
But the maximum time for a writ is 90 days, which means with a 30 day minimum campaign, you could have an election in July with the return of the writ set for a later date. I can’t tell you what problems come from carrying on for a period after an election without the writs returned.
Since 1921, there have been only 2 elections not in the normal February-April election window. The first was 1943, held in November when the parliamentary term was altered due to the war, and 1996, when Richard Court brought the election forward 2 months to December. The last winter election was in 1904!
As one who remembers Peter Dowding’s white short sleeved shirt and tie look in the 1989 heatwave election, I’ve got to say I have no idea what a Western Australian election would look like if everybody had to rug up against the weather.
This could be helpful.
http://www.waec.wa.gov.au/state/pdfs/Date_Info.pdf
Rudd flags motorbike safety moves
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/02/2233583.htm?section=justin
The occassional biker and 9% man should be pleased.
Great summary William.
Surely it serves as a warning to the federal Liberals about the dangers of dumping a leader at the drop of a hat.
Should we chip in a get them a copy of “Politics for Dummies”?
Have they got a birthday coming up or something?
Ok – yes it was a terrible move, yes the Govt is abysmal, yes unfortunately the opposition is just as bad, yes Troy seemed like the best option at the time, yes they should have known better… etc etc etc
Ok – let’s look at your options-
eliminate those who are retiring (Barnett and Birney effectively)
eliminate those who had recently (and somewhat spectacularly) left (Sullivan and Walker)
Now – who have you got:
Castrilli – no City profile, bit inexperienced at this level but not completely out of the question
Cowper – bit inexperienced and no City profile to speak of
Day – nice bloke but hardly a strong winning leader
Hames – ditto
Jacobs – yawn
Johnson – not a BAD option but not great either
McGrath – sitting in a blue-ribbon seat doing what exactly???
Porter – c’mon, he’s only been there five seconds
Simpson – see Cowper
Snook – see Simpson
Thomas – see Snook.
So – I know this will never work but how about offering the job to Liz Constable. Maybe she’d come back to the fold. She’s bright, likeable, conservative, well-regarded, has good profile, it’d be a real coup for the party, it’d put to bed all the ‘boy’s club’/sexist issues and she might just lead them to a win. Also she has Metro appeal – gotta have a leader who can win votes in the City nowadays and with her safe blue-ribbon seat she’d be free to do leader-type stuff.
Ok, I know its crazy but is it so crazy it just might work??? Could someone convince her to do it???
I remember thinking after the 2005 election that if Matt Birney had a clear four year run as Opposition Leader, he would be a challenger come the next election. And despite some minor difficulties (certainly compared to his successors!), there was nothing especially bad about his leadership – only that Carpenter enjoyed a long honeymoon with his “above the fray” approach to the WA ALP and its dramas.
Troy Buswell was the key to Birney’s downfall, and I bet Matt is loving every second of this.
He is the ONLY electable person they’ve got, and for largely personal and petty reasons, they don’t want him. So unless they can find some city candidates who can join Christian Porter in a new generation, they’ll be stuffed for another term as well.
[Castrilli – no City profile, bit inexperienced at this level but not completely out of the question]
And he’s in the most marginal seat in WA, only one it by a couple of hundred votes at the last poll – Leader SHOULD be in a fairly safe seat, don’t want a repeat of Bennelong don’t we.
Good point Frank – forgot Bunbury’s former reputation as a bit of a bellwether.
But in Castrilli’s favor IIRC he was Mayor and not a bad operator.
Mike Carlton’s (SMH) take on the WA Libs.:
“DEMOCRACY demands an opposition to take the fight to the government. Sadly, I am afraid that Just-Call-Me-Brendan is not up to it. The heavy hitter the Liberals need in Canberra is Troy Buswell who – at the moment of writing – is the Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia.
For some days this week, Buswell stoutly fended off rumours that, as a bit of a jape, he had sniffed the seat of a chair shortly after it had been vacated by a female Liberal Party staff member. Eventually, choking back sobs, he conceded on television that he had sniffed as alleged.
It was a bravura performance. Buswell is ready for the national stage, in the lady-killing tradition of those two great Liberal knights of the realm, the late John Gorton and Billy Snedden.”
Read the rest of Mike’s comments here: http://www.smh.com.au/news/mike-carlton/security-has-cost-us-our-freedom/2008/05/02/1209235149846.html
Perhaps the remaining Liberal MPs should rotate the leadership on a monthly basis. It would save everyone a lot of trouble.
I’ve added an update on today’s newspaper coverage:
20 Adam, I think there is a lot of merit in drawing a new leader name out of a hat as proposed by the Queensland Liberals when things get this desperate.
If there is a split in the party; what is going to be the division between the groups? Is it a hardliners vs moderates split? Is there any policy difference between the two parts? (Other than the clear anti-chair sniffing and pro-chair sniffing policies). And who are the party members likely to follow?
I have 100% confirmation that Paul Omodei’s retirement will be announced in The Sunday Times 2mw
The Channel Ten news reports that Omodei has quit the Liberal Party after failing to get a winnable upper house spot. This despite the following report in yesterday’s West:
ABC
Omodei quits Liberal Party
Posted 38 minutes ago
Former Western Australia Liberal leader Paul Omodei has resigned from the party.
He walked out of today’s council meeting after being placed in an unwinnable position on the party’s south-west ticket.
The 57-year-old failed to secure a spot at the first preselection meeting in February, a month after being dumped as leader.
Due to a bungle, the selection ballot had to be reopened and he regained a winnable spot, but today the council upheld the original position.
As he left the meeting, Mr Omodei said Opposition Leader Troy Buswell was an unfit person to lead the party, after his recent chair sniffing scandal.
Oh Dear, so much for the state based resurgence of the Liberal Party.
The West.com.au
Omodei claims Libs ‘nonsense’ forced him to quit
3rd May 2008, 16:30 WST
SNIP: You can read the article here. Do, because it’s a compelling read – PB.
Sorry, didnt know the article was so long
Also according to PerthNow, Patti Chong, one of perths most prominent lawyers and touted as a Lib candidate called Buswell sickening and said he should resign
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23640580-948,00.html
And according to Seven News, Try got a Standing Ovation and is believed to have the numbers to retain the leadership.
I predict the libs will win 5 seats statewide 🙂
Don’t you love Liberal Wives 🙂
[TROY Buswell’s wife has vehemently defended her husband – saying he is a good man and that others in parliament behave far worse.
In her only interview following the latest damaging revelations about his past behaviour with women, Margaret Buswell also said the beleaguered Liberal leader was deeply remorseful about the chair-sniffing incident, but it was “just a joke that missed the mark”.
Mrs Buswell said her support for her husband was “rock solid”, that he had never done anything she would be ashamed of and that he should be judged on his policies and vision, despite the recent reports that have left him fighting for political survival.
“He’s sorry for what he did. He understands that what he did was offensive. But he would never intentionally offend someone,” she said ahead of a party meeting tomorrow that will decide whether a leadership vote will occur.
“I think it was just a joke that missed the mark. I’ve known him since I was 16 and he’s always had a sense of humour. That’s probably one of the reasons people love him so much.”
She said her husband had a lot of integrity and she and both their families were very proud of him.
“I think there’s a lot of other people (in parliament) who should be worried, but it doesn’t come out,” she said. “Troy’s not corrupt. He’s not an adulterer. He hasn’t run off with anyone up there, and that’s all going on (in parliament).
“That’s why so many good people don’t go into politics, because of all the rubbish that goes on.
“Is there anyone who could stand up and say that they’ve not done something that was misinterpreted in the past?”]
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23639866-948,00.html
Does WA have OPV or full preferences? Because a split will destory a party under OPV.
Full preferences.
[Does WA have OPV or full preferences? Because a split will destory a party under OPV.]
Plus with 1 vote 1 value there will be 3 cornered contest in rural seats which means that the conservative vote will defect to the Nationals.
If Omodei runs as an Independent, his personal support alone will result in him winning the new seat.
I predict the libs will win 5 seats statewide -Frank
Sorry, Frank, federal election appearances to the contrary, we ain’t all hillbilly rednecks here in WA. Buswell is patently unelectable. Panned internationally, he is now electoral poison. Typhoid Troy. Aside from his misogyny, what this incident illustrates is Buswell’s total lack of any political judgement. That he would be so gross -even in ‘jest’- in front of party colleagues and staffers, and expect that it would never leak to the media, shows incredible ineptitude. If the Libs still think he is a viable alternative Premier, God help them.
35 Ozymandias, didn’t one of the reports from the west further up the thread tell us that Buswell has the numbers to win a leadership spill?
And Barry Court is being a complete hypocrite by supporting him, considering his wife Maragret, the former Tennis Champ runs the Victory Life Church.
And I wonder how The Insiders will cover this ? Will Pies etc support Party Troy ? And Nelson’s PPM rating in Newspoll will be in negative figures following his support, and even Julie Bishop supports him ?
[35 Ozymandias, didn’t one of the reports from the west further up the thread tell us that Buswell has the numbers to win a leadership spill?]
Correct, and State Parliament resumes for the Budget session on Tuesday – If Sniffwell survives, watch the Govt go into Attack mode.
Frank,
Not everyone at State Council gave Troy a standing ovation, including several State MPs that were sitting up the back.
Today’s update:
[The claim is strongly denied by Carpenter, but he might have hoped for a more emphatic statement of support by witness Louise Pratt, current state upper house MP and soon-to-be Senator.]
Actually she is no longer an Upper Houswe Member as her replacement has already been sworn in as her replacement and has already given his Maiden Speech.
Thanks Frank, I should have known.
Looks like Buswell may be gone.
News Ltd has turned on him, now calling the bra incident correctly as a bra unfastening instead of the more innocent bra snapping. And his wife now comes out in support ala Bartlet and Debnam.
I must say I’m a little disappointed with Paul Omodei over this whole thing.
I had always considered him an honourable (if uninspiring) guy but his behaviour has been highly questionable.
Refusing to run in the new lower house seat was a bit iffy but fair enough – let the guy nominate where he wants. It might have bee nice for him to take one for the team but you’d let that go through to the keeper.
However, then to spit the dummy when relegated down the upper house ticket – well, that just smacks of pique – not principle.
And then to cap it off by saying Buswell is unfit to lead – AFTER he got the shaft… well, it just doesn’t carry the same weight that it might have had he taken such a principled stand before the Exec. Council boned him…
Another update.
Reports in The West Australian and The Australian give an impression Buswell will narrowly survive today’s spill motion, if only for the want of a credible alternative. Four months after arguing that “juvenile” and “stupid” behaviour by Troy Buswell “was not so reprehensible that he need rule himself out of leadership contention”, The West Australian today offers a front page editorial which begins:
The matter of Buswell’s honesty was of no concern to the paper in January: now it talks of “the ease with which he employs deviousness and downright dishonesty in a bid to achieve his personal ambition”. We are even told that Buswell’s “knifing of another of his leaders, Paul Omodei” showed he “had not lost his appetite for hacking down those ahead of him on the greasy pole” – an interesting interpretation of actions The West had openly advocated. The paper’s call for Buswell’s departure has been echoed elsewhere in the media by The Australian’s state political reporter Amanda O’Brien and in various television news bulletins by the ubiquitous Peter van Onselen, Edith Cowan University academic and John Howard biographer. Van Onselen told the Sunday Times yesterday he had been approached by “several senior Liberals seeking advice on how to form a new party”, apparently with a view to usurping the established Liberal Party as the Nationals’ coalition partner. The ranks of conservative independents in parliament now includes recently disaffected Liberals Sue Walker and Dan Sullivan along with the established Elizabeth Constable and Janet Woollard (many Liberals would dispute the conservative credentials of the latter), and is soon to be joined by Paul Omodei (who has not yet formally resigned, and is threatening to show up for the spill motion). The West also reports that the initiator of the spill motion, Graham Jacobs, is refusing to comment on his future with the party if Buswell survives.
Like the new ad for Matchfinder William.
Perhaps the libs can use it to find a new leader?
“Wanted, middle aged gent with liberal values, must respect women etc etc etc”
There is actually a word that describes Buswell’s behaviour.
Snedge: To attempt to sniff or gain pleasure by sniffing the bicycle seats belonging to girls, particularly schoolgirls. To sniff or smell something inappropriate.
Does this mean that Buswell should now be known as “the Snedge”?
THe West can’t have it both ways re Buswell, they’ve now been showed big time for backing the wrong horse as leader.
If Buswell does retain the leadership, any chance of them winning the state election will be as much chance of me getting up off my wheelchair and doing a 100 metre dash – NIL 🙂 (I Have Spina Bifida).
I couldn’t help laughing out loud:
“Another former leader Matt Birney said he too would support the spill motion.
“I’ll probably end up showing Troy the level of support that he showed me, I think that’s only fair,” he said.”
(http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/05/2235926.htm?site=idx-wa)
This makes for a good drama, and I thank the Liberal Party of WA for the amusement, the political cost for them aside.
ABC Radio reports the spill motion has been defeated.