SUNDAY SMACKDOWN: Foolish Family First Freaky Fanatic Fired Following Fruity Flame-mail Flashing Furore // Andrew Quah Exposed

A senior figure in the Family First party has embroiled that patriotic grouping in a remarkable "sleaze scandal" reported today by Chris Tinkler in the Sunday Herald Sun which by remarkable coincidence was published just as an investigation by the OC Investigations Unit was occurring.

THE QUAH

Andrew Quah, a bonsai grower, music teacher, a very quirky Liberal allied student politician active in the Sydney University SRC and a former candidate for President in 2004 who moved on to high office within Family First appears to have sent an email to lists comprising well over a hundred student political activists, which contained offensive text and photographs including of him exposing himself. Naturally, only the OC will be sharing with you the full text and disturbing imagery.

Quah had become the president of the Family First youth wing, Youth First, a member of its state executive and its endorsed candidate for Reid until his fall from grace after Party authorities were alerted to Quah's admission to the Sunday Herald Sun that he'd taken the first two photographs and "might have" taken the first third. He also fessed up to downloading internet porn, as any candidate would when fielding a call from a journalist.

We understand that Quah says he was uncertain about the circumstances that led him to take the photographs, telling some that alcohol was to blame and invoking the time-honoured Kevin07 alcoholic haze memory loss defence.

FEET DIDN'T TOUCH THE FLOOR

Once made aware of the situation by the Sunday Herald Sun, Family First acted quickly and decisively in purging the pervert. He was summarily removed as an endorsed candidate, sacked from the party's executive and youth wing and summarily expelled as a party member.

The OC has obtained the offending email and photographs. As the Sunday Herald Sun noted, Quah denies sending them. We'll let you decide whether he did or not. He does not deny taking the nude self-portraits but has no memory of how they might have been sent in an email bearing his name.

Different subscribers of the email lists have different memories of whether they'd received the email. Either way, the Yiddish word Schmuck springs to mind.

UGLY EMAIL // UGLIER PICS

The email text - which Quah denies writing - reads as follows:

From: Andrew Quah
Date: Aug 19, 2006 2:23 AM
Subject: ...
To: nat_education@yahoogroups.com, nsw_education_activists@yahoogroups.com, usydqueer@yahoogroups.com

deer left,

u can all go n suck my fat asian cock

hate you,

andrew quah

future src president

also bring me more burbon i ran out

The disturbing images we have shown here were attached. We have obscured Andrew Quah's genitalia from the photographs here but the non-worksafe versions are available by clicking the images.

A LIFELONG FASCINATION WITH WOOD

On a lighter note, Quah's biographical material reports:

During primary school, Andrew appeared in several commercials and stageshows, and featured as one of the performers in the opening sequence of the popular children's show "Mr. Squiggle".

At the last state poll, we exposed a self-described exhibitionist Greens candidate Justin Walker. It's a much sadder event indeed to "expose" another flash in the pan political aspirant in the form of Andrew Quah. Family First are good commonsensical folk who've had their bona fides well and truly proven by Senator Steve Fielding over the past three years. The OC doesn't agree with all that he says, but his heart is clearly in the right place.

Fielding's swift and merciless actions show he has zero tolerance for the antics of his young protege.

TOUGH LESSON

For Andrew Quah, this is a very brutal way to learn. Despite stories we've heard of him engaging in some very unpleasant behaviour in the unpleasant world of student elections (instructing campaigners to "chalk" and repeat a story that a female opponent had thrush etc.) we are inclined to hope that he can pick himself up, dust himself off and move on. He has a healthy scepticism for the Greens, a good basis for anyone starting out in politics.

We are told his Facebook page declared that he was "f*cked". I hope he doesn't feel that way for long because as Kipling teaches us triumph and disaster are twin imposters.

For the Facebook generation, kids with cameras on their phones and ambition in their hearts, it is a powerful lesson too. Don't take photos, don't appear in photos, you don't want to see on the front page of the Herald Sun or in a Sunday Smackdown special on the OC.

Because, you'd better believe it, we'll be watching. Whoever you are.

Game on.

UPDATE: AAP/Fairfax have picked up the story too.