Tony Abbott's "S Happens" was a collequialism common among military men and women and really that was a significant portion of his audience at the time...
My reaction at the time to that was that the reporter who made a big deal of it, simply did not speak Australian. Had Tony said; "Oh dear, how sad", or similar he would have been pilloried for that too. That two word Australianism was perfect in the circumstances, as any red blooded Australian would know. Mark Riley's report was cringe-worthy to my ears and eyes. What a complete goose. An embarrassment.
The fuss definitely made abject fools out of the fussees.
