I'm sorry but won't resign, says Buswell

Troy Buswell says he plans to stay on as West Australian treasurer after admitting
an affair with Greens MP Adele Carles during which he misused ministerial
entitlements.
The state opposition has demanded Premier Colin Barnett immediately determine if Mr
Buswell misused taxpayers' money and sack him if he did.
Mr Buswell's position as treasurer still hangs in the balance with Mr Barnett yet to
state his position on the issue.
Fronting the media in Perth on Monday, Mr Buswell confirmed he had a four-month
affair with Ms Carles and said he had deeply hurt his family and many others.
The 44-year-old also admitted to misuse of a ministerial car and hotel entitlements
during the affair but said he would repay the money.
"I would particularly like to apologise to my wife Margaret, to our boys and our
extended families," Mr Buswell told reporters outside parliament.
"I sincerely regret my actions and have sought professional assistance to help me
with the personal work ahead of me.
"I have two wonderful boys, and it has been a difficult week for them as it has been
for my wife, as it has been for our extended families."
Mr Buswell, who is understood to be staying at the home of Energy Minister Peter
Collier, refused to say if he had split with his wife and rejected a suggestion he
had a "Tiger Woods-like addiction" to sex.
News of his affair followed previous notorious incidents in which he snapped the bra
strap of a Labor Party staff member and sniffed the chair of a Liberal Party
staffer.
That incident eventually forced him to step down as Liberal Party leader in late 2008.
Mr Buswell said on Monday that his relationship with Ms Carles had not had an impact
on the discharge of his duties and he had not considered resigning.
He offered his sincere apologies to the family of Ms Carles, who is married with
three daughters, aged seven, 10 and 13.
The 41-year-old Fremantle MP told News Ltd she and Mr Buswell had made a "mutual,
albeit stupid, decision as two consenting adults" but it was now over.
In a statement on Monday she said that at no time during the affair did she ever
misuse any of her parliamentary entitlements.
Mr Buswell said Mr Barnett had been "extremely disappointed" when told of the affair.
He said he would repay the government for the three times a ministerial car had
dropped him off to meet Ms Carles on a Sydney trip and for a night they spent in a
hotel in Albany in WA's south.
"I've acknowledged that I have made mistakes and errors."
Opposition Leader Eric Ripper said Mr Barnett should come back from his hobby farm
outside Perth and deal with the political crisis engulfing his government.
Mr Ripper said he was reluctant to comment on private matters but the issue had
crossed the line with the misuse of taxpayer funds.
"If Mr Buswell has misused taxpayers' funds, the premier will have no alternative
but to sack him."
Paying the money back should not work for Mr Buswell, Mr Ripper said.
"There's a double standard here, doctors and nurses in our public hospital system
have been sacked for false claims."
Mr Barnett is expected to comment publicly on the matter on Tuesday but through a
spokesman on Monday rejected a report that he had sacked his treasurer.
"No such decision's been made, that's not right," spokesman Joey Armenti said.
Mr Buswell, described as "the world's best treasurer" by Mr Barnett, is due to
deliver the state budget on May 20 and his loss or demotion would be a blow to the
WA government.