Dr Alex Douglas MP responds to Courier Mail article

Media release

The story published by the Courier Mail: “A lady does not have the same capacity” by Kelmeny Fraser is a deliberate and distorted attempt to misrepresent what I stated to her during an earlier interview.

It would appear that the motive has been to deliberately stigmatise and have a negative effect on me.

I gave a clear explanation of why Clive Palmer MP most likely excused himself from the hostile Sarah Ferguson interview. Those statements are, however, completely absent from this story.

I am on the record as being a long-time champion of women, of being anti-bullying and strongly supportive of the aspirations of all individuals.

I am the proud grandfather of a beautiful baby girl, the father of two highly accomplished young women and the proud husband of an exceptional woman who is both a former political representative, a former senior Vice-President of the National Party and a devoted grand-mother.

I want to ensure women’s rights to be heard and treated with respect.

This week in Queensland the Campbell Newman / LNP Government ran a completely fake and maliciously manipulated estimates process. The key ministers point blank refused to answer fair questions and the Premier, Treasurer and Attorney General stooped to using personal abuse as a means to evade fair scrutiny.

Matters relating to women were completely ignored at those hearings, continuing the pattern that has been set by this State Government and its federal counterparts of denying women the highest representation in political office.

If the Courier Mail, its editors and its journalists were actually serious about the scrutiny of governance in the state of Queensland as well as advancing the progress and rights of women, this story should have been about matters of great importance to the state as well as women’s rights.

These matters of great importance include a forthcoming senate enquiry into corruption in this state, something that this newspaper seems to be deliberately ignoring.

This newspaper also failed to provide any real scrutiny of the outrageous sham of the estimates process and instead created stories centered around trivial fabricated statements that are critical of my so-called etiquette and attitudes towards women.

Sadly, the end result is little more than a compliant media doing little or nothing to facilitate better outcomes for both women and the people of Queensland.

Dr Alex Douglas MP
Member for Gaven
Leader of Palmer United Party in the Queensland Parliament
Phone 0418589007