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Former WA Treasurer Troy Buswell arrested for alleged domestic violence charges

Headshot of Joanna Delalande
Joanna DelalandeThe West Australian
Troy Buswell.
Camera IconTroy Buswell. Credit: Steve Ferrier/WA News

Former WA Treasurer Troy Buswell is facing six serious assault charges in an alleged case of domestic violence.

The former Liberal MP was reportedly arrested by cold case detectives overnight, accused of carrying out the attacks against his partner between 2015 and 2019.

The charges include three counts of aggravated assault occasioning bodily harm, three counts of aggravated common assault and one count of unlawful damage.

Mr Buswell has yet to plead to the assault charges and is due to be in court next month.

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Attempts by The West Australian to contact Mr Buswell tonight have been unsuccessful.

WA Liberals State director Sam Calabrese said Mr Buswell had not been a member of the party for a number of years.

After quitting politics in 2014, Mr Buswell worked at civil and mine contractor Brierty.

He was promoted to chief financial officer in 2016, but resigned in August 2017 and one month later the company collapsed into voluntary administration.

The 53-year-old is no stranger to controversy and is most remembered for the 2008 chair-sniffing scandal, which he initially denied, then admitted to.

It involved allegations he sniffed the chair of a female staffer in late 2005 while pretending to groan in sexual pleasure. Mr Buswell described the allegations as an unsubstantiated rumour 13 times before admitting to them.

He also admitted to snapping a Labor staffer’s bra strap in 2008, and that year a Liberal backbencher also claimed Mr Buswell had grabbed his crotch – but said the incident had been resolved between them.

Two years later, revelations of an extra-marital affair with then-Greens MP Adele Carles emerged, along with allegations Mr Buswell had used his ministerial car three times to meet Ms Carles and got taxpayers to foot the bill for hotel stays.

He resigned from politics in September 2014, saying public life and managing his mental illness was too hard to balance and he had lost his passion for the job.

The resignation came six months after he was forced to step down as WA Treasurer after he had his license suspended when he allegedly left a wedding intoxicated and crashed into a series of cars on the way home.

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