Recently, we’ve been giving Stephen Franks and David Farrar a hard time for their stupid school-boy attempt at humour. The point was to expose to scrutiny the kind of foolish behaviour that can and does diminish the appeal of political parties to different cohorts of voters. National has a problem with its image with women. It’s pretty clear they know this and are trying to remedy it (which makes Franks error all the more significant). However, the New Zealand National Party can thank themselves that they don’t have this guy on their team.
West Australian Opposition Leader Troy Buswell has broken down at a press conference and admitted he sniffed the chair of a female Liberal Party staffer.
Good god! All the more remarkable, Buswell is saying he’ll not stand-down as leader! And it’s not the first time.
Mr Buswell has previously admitted to snapping a Labor staffer’s bra as a drunken party trick and has been accused by retiring Liberal MP Katie Hodson-Thomas of making sexist remarks to her.
Similar sexist acts cost the former NSW Liberal Leader, John Brogden, his job back in 2005.
This is not to suggest that National Party in NZ are guilty of this level of sexism. It does, however, suggest the importance of setting a very low threshold, over which indiscretions are dealt with swiftly.
The federal Liberal party will be aghast at this. They’ve got the Labor government in some strife - West Australia was the only state that didn’t have a swing against the Liberal/National coalition at the last federal election. There was even talk that the current deputy leader of the federal party, Julie Bishop, who’s the federal member for the seat of Curtin in WA may depart the Canberra scene to start the rebuilding at the state-level (WA is the next state to go to the polls).
Update: The SMH reports that federal Liberal leader, Nelson, supports Buswell’s continuing leadership because he’s remorseful. Ridiculous.
April 29, 2008 at 9:41 pm
As someone said about Crocodile Dundee who was checking whether an old dowager was a woman:
“It’s OK, he’s Australian.”
April 29, 2008 at 10:46 pm
There is a much, much higher level of sexism in Australia than in NZ, but this; this is dead-set wrong mate.
April 30, 2008 at 12:20 am
Who gives a shit, 18 posts today over 4-5 entries shows this site is shit, just like NewzBlob. No one takes you serious.
No one is listening herpes, shittypants, gayman etc.
You are just a load of no name faceless dickhead leftie til I die wankers.
At least DPF has the gumption to say who he is, you can put a name to a face (even if it is a bit ugly), unlike you faceless/nameless tossers.
April 30, 2008 at 12:33 am
It’s the erudition, analysis and insight I most admire of the right. The commitment to ideas, the contest and the pursuit of truth. Adolf, you’ve done yourself and your self identified team so proud.
April 30, 2008 at 12:52 am
Hes a rough diamond.
April 30, 2008 at 12:54 am
Hahaha! Adolf (geddit? Adolf eh?) just made my day!
April 30, 2008 at 1:09 am
Innit clever? He’s a hit with his friends on myspace.
April 30, 2008 at 2:00 am
My favourite bit is simply that someone going by the moniker of “adolfpowell” turns up and has a pop at others who don’t post under their real names.
Shall we be charitable and say he was being ironic?
Or perhaps he’s just being ’self-loathing’?
Surely not just another dumbfuck unconscious hypocrite?
Whichever one it is, it’s still a hoot.
April 30, 2008 at 11:23 am
The photo of him is pretty revealing too, I hadn’t anticipated he was so rotund; the angry man is often a skinny man - all that violent, nervous energy. he doesn’t strike me as the laconic Parekura type, but I stand corrected.
April 30, 2008 at 12:24 pm
It’s funny how some people get all self-righteous about anonymity. People have good reason for not using their real names — especially if they hold opinions that are unpopular. Most people use pseudonyms to be *more* honest, not less.
April 30, 2008 at 1:51 pm
This is probably true for me Ruth. I do however, contemplate posting under my own name but I’d need to post on a far narrower range of issues to avoid a professional conflict.
However, I also hope adolf comes back, I sense real potential in him - do you?
April 30, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Whilst Mr Powell (Enoch ?) is obviously a Dickhead
I did think “No one is listening herpes, shittypants, gayman etc.”
was quite funny
Should i be ashamed ?
April 30, 2008 at 3:29 pm
So did I and I’m not!
April 30, 2008 at 3:37 pm
There’s great potential for anyone named Adolf I think….somewhere
Hey the post WAS funny - in a drunken -I’ve-just-downed-a-fifth-of-vodka kind of way.
About anonymity though - I’ve been on the internet for a long time, and I’ve had someone threaten to kill me, my real name has been outed, business associations have been outed, and I’ve had my identity stolen on more than one occasion. It’s more than unpleasant.
So yay for pseudonyms.
April 30, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Mmmm … chair.
April 30, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Ahh.. come on guys… own up. One of you mock-posted it to liven up an otherwise dull thread.
April 30, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Ouch!
You’d think a thread about a senior right-wing politician sniffing the seat of a female colleague would be lively but!
April 30, 2008 at 5:51 pm
a lively butt ?
May 2, 2008 at 1:33 am
Anyone remember how Jonathan Coleman blew smoke on a woman at a U2 concert?
May 2, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Yeah, that was also pretty offensive albeit not in quite the same league.