His victory, he said, was "like a miniature Trump election". "People were coming up to me and saying 'are you a member of One Nation' and I said yes, and they'd say 'wow that's fantastic'," he said. Ku-ring-gai council is located in the very safe federal Liberal seat of Bradfield, among the nation's wealthiest and most highly-educated electorates. In this deeply blue ribbon heartland, Cr Kelly picked up 29 per cent of the primary vote, but relied on preferences to win a seat. As a result of preference deal struck with former mayor Cheryl Szatow, he edged out his nearest rival, Liberal party member Greg Cook, to claim the second seat in the Gordon ward.

He contested the election as an independent. And while he declared his One Nation membership in his nomination form, he did not mention it in his campaign materials. He explained his membership as "totally irrelevant" to his campaign "because the party is not registered in NSW and certainly has no aspirations to local government at all". What he did include on his campaign flyer, however, was a glowing endorsement from Prince Omar Kiram, cousin of the Sultan of the self-styled Sultanate of Sulu and Sabah. "I write to support Dr Peter Kelly's candidacy for local government," the Prince wrote, in a spiel extracted on Cr Kelly's flyer. "I have known Dr Kelly for decades, but more recently when he worked to upgrade the constitution of the sultanate."

Peter Kelly's campaign flyer. Founded in the 15 century as a Muslim state, the Sultanate maintains a historical territorial claim to parts of the southern Philippines and Sabah, a Malaysian state in northern Borneo. It has not been formally recognised by the Philippines government since the late 1980s. Cr Kelly said he was invited by the Sultan to serve on his judicial council and "was involved in the implementation of sharia law in east Malaysia". It is a surprising resume line for a One Nation member, given the party's position, as espoused on the One nation website that: "Islam demands that all Muslims work to overthrow all nations, governments and non-sharia laws." Peter Kelly's endorsement from Prince Omar Kiram, cousin of the Sultan of the self-styled Sultanate of Sulu and Sabah.

But Cr Kelly sees no conflict between his former work and his views on Islam and Muslim immigration – namely that it should be ceased entirely "until we find out what we've got in our backyard." "Absolutely I don't want it [sharia] here in Australia," he said. It was through the Prince and his connections with the La Ruggero University II, that Cr Kelly said he obtained his PhD in international business. The website of The Ruggero II University. The "university" appears to be an unaccredited body, located in Rome, and incorporated in Florida and Gambia, Africa.

It is run by an institution called the Norman Academy, which Cr Kelly described as "kind of like a club for royalty". "I was invited to submit a thesis for evaluation," he said. He said his thesis was on "e-commerce in the Third World" which he completed by "distance education based on what I was doing in south-east Asia at the time". His thesis, he said, drew on the practical experience he had sitting on the board of Cosmos Limited, a public company in Australia engaged in e-commerce. "I just coupled together the business plan and all the experiential reports that we had."

Cr Kelly cites his PhD on his professional LinkedIn page, and his campaign flyer included numerous reference to him as "Dr Kelly". However, the institution has no online presence beyond an archaic, solitary webpage, and lists no contact details other than an email address. Fairfax Media submitted an email inquiry but received no response. It claims to confer honorary degrees, and has a teaching staff comprised of "eminent professors of international fame". He defend the decision to claim the PhD, despite the institution's questionable legitimacy, stating, "I've certainly done the work." "I think whether the university is accredited in a particular jurisdiction is really immaterial."

Cr Kelly also claims to be a "professor" - a title he used on his campaign flyer - due his brief employment with a now defunct institution called Poseidon International University. "It's a title I was awarded and I'm entitled to it," he said. "It's also a great conversation starter." The "university", also unaccredited, was licensed by the government of Republic of Panama, and purportedly based in New York City. Cr Kelly said he was employed as a regional supervisor to students based in the Oceania region, and was paid $1000 per month per student. For a period of 18 months, he oversaw between five and 10 students at any one time, until the institution "had a funding crisis". "It folded quite suddenly," he said. "I don't know if there was some scandal associated with it or not."

Cr Kelly said he had studied at numerous Australian universities, but was unable to complete a degree due to constant relocation with the army. He has a diploma of strategic marketing from Charles Sturt University.