Graphic sex and a fictional war between Australia and an Indonesia-China coalition is an unusual plot choice for a first novel by conservative West Australian Federal Liberal MP Dennis Jensen.
But Dr Jensen never expected his name to be published alongside those sex scenes in an embarrassing report after it was leaked to a newspaper nine years later, as happened on Thursday.
He hoped to stay anonymous when he used his parliamentary letterhead to shop around the book The Sky Warriors in 2007, asking publishers that a pseudonym be used because it was "controversial" and he didn't want to affect foreign relations.
He said on Thursday he regretted using the letterhead.
"I'll say mea culpa on that: it was in my first term, I shouldn't have done it, it was a mistake," he told ABC radio.
"My dad was a journalist, who had also written a couple of novels and was told by publishers you needed to have at least one racy section in a book and that's why I included it."
However he said he believed the leaking of a nine year old letter was an attempt to trash his reputation, coming only days ahead of a tough preselection battle this weekend against former party state director Ben Morton for his safe Liberal seat of Tangney.
The leaked excerpts include an Aussie-hating Indonesian dictator called Rajiv and sex scenes involving a woman called Jasmine who doesn't believe in wearing bras.
Dr Jensen is backed by the religious right and well known for his conservative stance on various issues, having opposed the apology to the Aboriginal stolen generations, opposing same sex marriage and being a climate change sceptic.
He said he had not pursued publishing the book but said "now it is out in the open, who knows?"
Share
