Is it an offence for a Cabinet Minister to make a false and misleading claim about his qualifications on a government website? What are the Prime Ministerial standards in respect of a Minister with an inferiority complex pumping up his credentials to deceive the electorate?

The “Fat Owl of the Remove”, Lord Billy Bunter’s, official, Government-authorised biography makes the following claim:

Born in 1951, Mr Downer was educated at Geelong Grammar School, Victoria; Radley College, Oxford, United Kingdom; and the University of Newcastle on Tyne, United Kingdom. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Politics and Economics and is a Doctor of Civil Laws (honoris causa).

Radley College is a boarding school “on the edge of the village of Radley near Abingdon in Oxfordshire”.

Radley College is not a college of Oxford University, although that is the clear implication, very arguably the intent and certainly the effect, of the wording.

It would be a reasonable inference to draw that the wording constitutes an intent to deceive in contravention of the Trade Practices Act 1974 – Section 74C (1)(c) and (d) [goods do not correspond with the description].

 

 

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