REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Wednesday, March 2, 2005

AFTER 12 months of scandal, two CMC inquiries and constant embarrassment for the Beattie Government, the brief ministerial career of former Play School presenter Liddy Clark ended in disgrace.

Ms Clark was forced to quit her indigenous Affairs ministry after a Crime and Misconduct Commission inquiry found her office attempted to cover up a politically embarrassing blunder after the Palm Island riots by lying.

The inquiry found that a press release issued in her name about taxpayer-funded airfares to Palm Island for two Aboriginal activists had misled the public.

Ironically, the inquiry found the offer to pay for the airfares was not improper but lying to cover it up was.

“The mischief lies in what was an abandonment of the truth to avoid the possibility of political embarrassment,” said the report.

The future of two of her staff members, who wrote the press release, was under a cloud.

Ms Clark’s humiliating plummet back to the Beattie

Government’s back bench, just 12 months after her surprise elevation to the ministry, particularly embarrassed Premier Peter Beattie who hand-picked her for the difficult role.

Mr Beattie said he had met her three times after the release of the draft report and she offered her resignation at 4.27pm.

“She is a very tough little lady but, of course, this has been a difficult day for her and I didn’t enjoy the meetings I had to go through with her and she showed a lot of courage today,” he said.