Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace has altered her online qualifications list

Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace has altered her qualifications list despite last year fighting reports she had embellished them, writes Steven Wardill.

Education Minister Grace Grace has decided she’s not as well-educated as previously advised.

Over the summer recess, the erstwhile minister has quietly amended her published biography on State Parliament’s website.

The education section used to say Ms Grace had a “Masters/Graduate Diploma Level” qualification after completing Harvard’s Trade Union Program.

It now just states that she completed the program in the year 1993.

This is quite the backflip from the feisty former union boss, who staunchly defended referring to her qualification as Masters-level after the issue was first revealed by The Courier-Mail last year.

Minister for Education Grace Grace. Picture: Richard Walker

This came despite the fact the course was just 10 weeks, somewhat shorter than the average Masters degree.

Grace lashed any suggestions that her qualifications had been embellished as “baseless”, quoting from correspondence from the course’s director who’d advised it was “no picnic for the Labor leaders”.

“It is embarrassing for the Opposition and it is embarrassing for this Parliament that a senior academic from an internationally renowned university has taken the extraordinary step of writing not only to me, but also to Steven Wardill, to uphold the integrity of his institution and program,” she harrumphed.

Yet Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was a wee bit more circumspect, only describing her minister’s response as a “solid explanation”.

Maybe if Grace had just suggested she was the maker of the “World’s Best Tiramisu” – a claim she’s also made – fewer would have quibbled with her credentials.

Member for Keppel Brittany Lauga.

BRITT FLASHES BIG BUCKS

BRITT “look at moi” Lauga is splashing the cash around during the race for the Rockhampton mayoralty.

Donation records show the Member for Keppel has scraped together $6000 and tossed it in the direction of Nyree Johnson as well as found time in her busy schedule to hand out how-to-vote cards.

The big dollars from Britt have raised some eyebrows locally given her Register of Interests last year still showed she was still paying back Hutchinson Builders for cost over-runs discovered on her award-winning home.

The mayoral race was sparked after a cranky Marg Strelow tossed in the role after a run-in with Queensland’s corruption watchdog.

The Palaszczuk government had to retrospectively amend legislation to stop the second-place getter at the last election, Chris “Pineapple” Hopper”, from automatically getting the gig.

Former Nicklin MP Marty Hunt.

TAKING THE LOSS WELL

DEFEATED Nicklin MP Marty Hunt is finding his loss to Labor’s Robbie Skelton by just 80-odd votes tough to take.

Hunt shared a video of the colourful Skelton poking his tongue out at the Opposition during budget estimate hearings.

Labor MP Robert Skelton MP for Nicklin has been caught on camera poking his tongue out and making an “unparliamentary gesture” to LNP MPs during a parliamentary hearing. Picture Ch7

“Being a Member of Parliament is a great privilege, not a preschool playground,” Hunt said. “I sure hope things improve.”

He followed this up by pointing out Skelton’s office had misspelt the electorate’s name on Christmas well wishes to constituents.

“I know this guy is new to the area so I hate to be picky but this is frustrating!” he told his Facebook followers.

We suspect Skelton might have a few more gems over the next four years.

MP HOLIDAYS CONTINUE

THE state’s 93 MPs aren’t due back to Parliament from their summer recess until February 23. That is the latest resumption of the Legislative Assembly for many years, not including those times when the sitting schedule was interrupted by elections. Some might say our MPs are getting it easy. However, there’s a fig leaf of a defence given the House did sit into December due to Cameron Dick’s belated State Budget.