Qld oppn leader referred to ethics panel
Queensland's opposition leader has been referred to the ethics committee for allegedly misleading parliament.
Speaker Fiona Simpson has referred Labor leader Annastacia Palaszczuk to the parliamentary ethics committee after she spoke of "massive budget cuts" and "teachers losing their jobs" in her budget reply speech.
Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek disputed her comments, saying the education budget hadn't been cut and no teacher had lost their job.
Ms Simpson wrote to the opposition leader for a response.
Ms Palaszczuk replied saying that she had used different statistics to find the education budget cuts.
She also said the minister's answers to various questions on notice supported her claim about teachers losing their jobs.
But the Speaker says while political debate often involves different statistics, Ms Palaszczuk's evidence didn't support her comment about teacher's jobs.
"If the assumption cannot reasonably be made from the material it leaves open the issue of intent," Ms Simpson said in a statement.
The Speaker said the matter would be investigated by the parliamentary Ethics Committee.
