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Aussie Minister Ditches Economy for Wombats

Posted Jun 27, 08 6:13 PM CDT in World 

(Newser) – The Australian economy might be wobbly, but the treasury secretary would rather be off romping with northern hairy-nosed wombats, the Brisbane Courier-Mail reports. Ken Henry is unapologetically using the legislature's 5-week winter recess to tend to a small population of endangered critters—to the baying of opposition politicians worried over who will tend the economy while Henry is incommunicado.

"These guys are on death row. There are 10 times as many giant pandas in the world as there are these guys," said Henry, who will also miss a key central bank meeting while at the wombat colony with his wife. "I reckon if there was a mini-economic crisis, people would find their ways of getting to me."

Source Australia's News Network

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A rare southern hairy-nosed wombat, native to Australia, emerges from its mother's pouch at the zoo in Brookfield, Ill., on Sunday, June 17, 2007.   (AP Photo/Brookfield Zoo, Jim Schulz)
"There are 10 times as many giant pandas in the world as there are these guys," says Australia's treasury secretary of the wombats he'll be caring for during a 5-week legislative recess.   (AP Photo)
A forest wombat eat grass at the Dusit zoo in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007. Two forest wombats were recently given to the zoo by the Australian government.   (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
A zoo official is chased by a forest wombat at the Dusit zoo in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007. Two forest wombats were recently given to the zoo by the Australian government.   (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
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