Australian politician indulged in mock sexual ecstasy, says unnamed woman

Melbourne, May 6 : The woman at the centre of the seat-sniffing scandal involving West Australian Opposition Leader Troy Buswell says he writhed in mock sexual pleasure during the incident.

The woman, who remains unnamed, told The West Australian newspaper that Buswell sniffed her chair twice within 10 minutes, while groaning and making "sexually satisfying noises".

Buswell has admitted sniffing the seat of the Liberal female staff member in an office at Perth's Parliament House in October 2005.

He yesterday survived a Liberal party room move to dump him in the wake of the scandal.

The woman was today reported by The West Australian as saying that Buswell placed a chair on his head twice within 10 minutes, sniffing it before writhing in mock sexual ecstasy.

"We finished the meeting (with a constituent), 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', and grabbed my staff and walked out, but he didn't pay attention to a word I said."

The woman said she was standing with colleagues about 10 minutes later when one of them knocked on Buswell's door to ask one of his staff 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'," the woman said.

"It was awful. My colleagues, the four men I worked with, were just stunned into silence."

Mr Buswell, who is set to lead the Liberal Party to the next election after surviving yesterday's party room meeting, says he considered resigning over the incident and its aftermath.

ANI