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Other Parliamentary SpeechesThis page is dedicated to Peter's speeches during parliament that do not fall under Questions or Questions without notice. They range from debating legislation, reporting on events or issues in his seat of Southport and his Ministerial Statements.
Liberal Party Ethics Committee |
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| Posted by Administrator (admin) on May 13 2004 |
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I have got some great news for the parliament: the Liberal Party of Queensland is establishing an ethics committee. I know that is an oxymoron. That is a real oxymoron, let me tell you. This is a well-kept secret, for reasons which will become apparent. I am reliably informed that the new chairman of the Liberal Party ethics committee will be Mr Russell Galt. He is an authority on ethics but for all the wrong reasons. Mr Galt is chairman of the Ryan division of the Liberal Party which continues to be riddled with ethnic branch stacking. He was also treasurer of the federal member for Ryan's campaign committee at the time when a mysterious payment of $10,000 was made, a payment that is still being investigated by the Australian Electoral Commission.
As the member for Moggill could certify, Mr Galt was the unsuccessful candidate for the Moggill preselection. Being the good sport that he is, he took the result to the Supreme Court. In support of his claim before the court Mr Galt tendered evidence that a woman voter was not authorised to vote because she had been a member of the Moggill Bellbowrie branch of the Liberal Party for only three or four months prior to the preselection and not 12 months as required. Mr Galt was also instrumental in setting up that branch. As the Minister for the Environment told the House last year, Mr Galt knew the woman was an illegal voter because she voted for him and because Michael Johnson's chief of staff, Bernie Mack, signed her up as a member. In other words, Mr Galt knowingly accepted a rorted vote, then used that as part of his claim to overturn the preselection of Dr Flegg.
But there is more about Mr Galt's ethical standards: he has stated on his business card that he holds a masters degree in business administration and a masters degree in management. What he does not mention is the fact that he obtained these degrees from overseas institutions that accepted life experience credits from an Australian organisation of which he was a director, an organisation with no academic standing in Australia.
Back in 2003 the web site for the Institute of Business Leaders Limited described Mr Galt as having masters degrees from international management centres graduating in 1999 at Oxford University in the UK. Strangely, this is no longer mentioned in the web site, but the survey question, 'Do you agree that a strong adherence to a code of ethics should underpin business practice?' is. In fact, Mr Galt studied at the University of Action Learning based in Boulder, Colorado. These shonky degrees were granted from the International Management Centre which is located in Buckingham in the County of Oxford. With such a record it is little wonder that the Queensland Liberal Party has yet to announce Mr Galt's appointment as chairman of its ethics committee. They are probably psyching themselves up, I would say.
I understand there are 5,000 members of the Liberal Party in Queensland. That being so, there would be 4,999 more suited and qualified to head the ethics committee than Mr Galt would be. Last changed: [PUBLISHED_DATE] at 12:00 AM
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