As one of my favourite travel writers once wrote, there’s nothing like delving into the newspapers of random areas of other countries to understand what is happening, and to find the odd quirky article.

Perhaps the best, and least covered, country for news is Australia.

As Bill Bryson notes in his tome, Down Under, Australia has fought alongside the United States and Britain, has provided a plethora of our afternoon television programs, lured generations of Brits to their golden shores with all-round summers and general bonhomie, and yet remains relatively under-appreciated.

Indeed, since  one of my closest friends relocated to Sydney last year, I cannot help but gurn in the most contorted fashion each and every time she posts new pictures of her beach-side balcony, her ruby red tomatoes on said balcony, and the flippant “we’re off for a barbecue” that seems to occur all too frequently for my liking.

Particularly when I remain in drizzle-soaked Britain and the closest I get to a barbie is burning the toast when I come home from work. Pah.

But returning to glorious Oz, here is a prime example of Bryson’s observation, which begs the question, why, oh why can our politics not be this interesting?

The most controversy Tory leader David Cameron courts is by riding a bicycle, while Gordon Brown’s faded-brogue monotone renders the population so soporific that we would miss his antics even if they were on a par with Ronaldo’s latest faux pas.

Nevertheless, without further ado, I present Australia’s quirkiest politician: the chair-sniffing West Australian Liberals boss:

West Australian Liberals have rallied behind their leader Troy Buswell despite his admission he sniffed the chair of a woman party member.

Senior MPs and state Liberal president Barry Court said they were disappointed with Mr Buswell but denied it would hurt the party’s election chances.

The woman said Mr Buswell sniffed the chair she had been sitting on at his Parliament House office in December 2005.

“I was shocked and outraged, and I told him,” The West Australian quoted her as saying.

At the press conference, Mr Buswell said he had repeatedly refused to deny the allegations because he wanted to protect the woman.

“It’s hard dealing with these matters and having to face up to your responsibilities behaviourally, publicly, and it’s harder to do it privately.”

Mr Buswell said he would not stand down.

Liberal spokeswoman for women’s interests, Helen Morton, said she was not happy about the chair sniffing but did not believe it would alienate women voters.

[Via: The Age]