The State Liberal Opposition is in meltdown, blaming an "administrative error" for the list of fake sources provided to a Parliamentary Committee by self-proclaimed 'watchdog' Frank Pangallo as he sought to use an environmental crisis to amplify a debunked conspiracy theory.
Mr Pangallo yesterday apologised for submitting a list of non-existent academic sources to the Budget and Finance Committee, claiming he made an administrative error.
But he has refused to explain exactly how such an error could result in an entire list of dodgy references and faulty links being submitted, and insists he has not misled the parliament.
That's despite using the supposed academic sources to back his debunked claims about "what the science is actually telling us about the potential links between desalination plants and harmful algal blooms".
"This isn't some fantastical conspiracy theory and, unlike the Premier and his 'Yes Ministers', I am basing it on facts I have actually researched," Mr Pangallo told parliament at the time, before submitting his list of supposed sources - none of whose titles, authors and dates aligned with any published works, while his URL links defaulted to completely unrelated publications.
While he has apologised for the dodgy URLs, Mr Pangallo has failed to explain how he could get so many other facts so wrong - Including inventing references to academic papers that do not exist at all!
Moreover, he has doubled down on his debunked claims, instead submitting alternative sources, one of which is actually a paper about the impact of algae on desalination plants – not the other way around!
Vincent Tarzia now needs to demand answers from his star candidate – does he truly believe this was an "administrative error", and if so, how could Mr Pangallo have got it so wrong? Is this the standard he accepts in his Liberal team?
As put by Tom Koutsantonis
This is a question of leadership and credibility for Mr Tarzia.
Mr Pangallo has apologised for passing off phony references and dodgy links to non-existent documents – but he is doubling down on his conspiracy theories about the algal bloom crisis.
He is claiming this was a mere "administrative error" – a typo in a URL - but it is clearly much more than that, and he needs to explain exactly how he got it so wrong.
Almost every item in this document is incorrect – calling that an 'administrative error' is like calling the Titanic a minor maritime incident!
To make one administrative error in a four-line document may be regarded as a misfortune – to make four looks like gross incompetence, at the very least!
Vincent Tarzia needs to show leadership, sanction Frank Pangallo and remove him from the Budget and Finance Committee.
This is the State Liberal Opposition under Vincent Tarzia and Frank Pangallo: conspiracy theories, misleading evidence and administrative incompetence.
They are simply not fit to govern.
