ABC News weirdness

Unlike some bloggers who regularly copy and paste huge chunks of other's writing, and even whole articles, I try to keep excerpts short. In the case of the following extraordinarily poorly crafted, near pointless-gibberish from the ABC's Patrick Stack, I'm posting the whole article.

See if Stack's Dictators, Troy and Alannah makes any sense:

"I always say in politics the wheel of political opportunity is always in motion" - Troy Buswell, 23/06/2010.

Mr Buswell is yet to confirm whether he is going to establish a fortune teller stall at the Fremantle markets, but this remark at his comeback press conference demonstrated that while he may remain unwanted on the Liberal front bench, he could have a role as the party soothsayer.

Of course the former treasurer wasn't referring to the end of Kevinism, he was actually talking about one of his favourite topics, Troy.

It's been a significant time in State politics but it has been largely glossed over by the fact we have ranga running the country.

Early in the week we had the Premier, Colin Barnett, announcing the WA Government has ticked off the Rio Tinto - BHP joint venture, provided they pay for a hospital. It's a move that brought claims of Bannana Republic politics and had the Government likened to a Venezuelan dictatorship. Que? It's believed Hugo Chavez is livid with being compared to the bloke who wanted to have a canal from the Kimberley to Perth.

Then we had the public sector commissioner clearing both Adele Carles and Mr Buswell over any misuse of taxpayer money, giving weight to the rumour that Mr Buswell may actually be bullet proof.

But Mr Buswell doesn't want to don a cape and save the world, he just wants to get back on the front bench. And all of a sudden in seems in the realms of possibility, surely not in 2010, but maybe in the future. Especially when you consider not only did he not misuse tax payer funds, according to the report he could have claimed more! The former treasurer is so committed to achieving a surplus for the state government he is paying for his own research trips to Sydney.

The thing is, the Government could certainly use him, some of the ministers look about as capable as the French soccer team, even if they are vastly more harmonious.

He cuts an interesting figure during question time, Mr Buswell is used to grappling with the Opposition but in recent weeks he's instead been grappling with sudoku, that Japanese game with the numbers. On Wednesday he abandoned his puzzle for a book, reading 'Murderer No More' the book about how Andrew Mallard was wrongly convicted. Are you seeing the parallels? Well Troy wasn't jailed for more than a decade, but he does look as though he's in his own private prison. No more so than during question time as he is forced to listen to ministers bumble their way through Opposition probing. The member for Vasse pulls what I like to call the "serenity now" face. He sits back, closes his eyes, breaths heavily and tries to remember a happy place, a place and time when Labor yelled abuse at him, not another.

One of those who has spent many hours shouting down Mr Buswell is Alannah MacTiernan. After well over a decade of service the member for Armadale and former Planning and Infastructure has finished her time with State Politics as she pushes for a role in the Federal sphere. If Julia Gillard thought Kevin Rudd was demmanding, then she'll have a different kind of perfectionist on her hands with MacTiernan. Although the federal candidate for Canning has had some ambitious hairstyles. Maybe she can take some tips from the PM's partner.

MacTiernan has been a keen sparing partner for the Coalition and especially the Premier. When Mr Barnett was asked by reporters for a word on her departure he replied with "bye". That's because she does her job well, she makes life difficult for the Government. Reporters too I might add.

There were countless stories being bandied about regarding Ms MacTiernan but by far the best this scribe heard was regarding her first day in Parliament. She rolled into the chamber wearing some particularly racey stockings and a member from the opposing side of politics remarked that you would expect to see that sort of attire in a brothel. Not missing a beat she snapped back "well you're the only one in here that would know what the inside of a brothel looks like."

Was Stack simply very tired after a long day at work or did he perhaps write this at the pub on a laptop?