Newspaper publisher John Booth has been found not guilty of giving false and misleading evidence to ICAC Credit:Nick Moir The awards were the brainchild of Bennelong MP and former tennis star John Alexander, who told a Melbourne radio station this week that "Matehoods" should replace knighthoods as Australia's top gong. MORE TOP STORIES 2 Broke Girls fans' uproar over racist joke

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ALP transport policy 'less of the same' "Our highest honour should be a Matehood and you should honour people by officially calling them 'Mate' and the official greeting should be 'G'day Mate'," he told 3AW's Neil Mitchell.

Mr Abbott appeared to take the suggestion on board during the North Ryde visit, where he was heard to quip: "I was going to give him a knighthood, but instead I'm giving him a Matehood" when presenting Mr Booth with his award. Ryde Labor councillor George Simon slammed Mr Booth's award as another misstep by Mr Abbott. Mr Booth and his newspaper played a central role in the ICAC inquiry, which led to a series of corrupt findings against Ryde's former mayor, Ivan Petch. "Parading him around as a 'Mate of Bennelong' is a serious misjudgement by the Prime Minister on par with his Prince Phillip gaffe," Cr Simon said. Mr Booth was the recipient of a $250,000 loan from Cr Petch, Ryde's then mayor who was later found to have engaged in corrupt conduct when he deliberately failed to declare the financial dealing at a meeting that considered awarding The Weekly Times council advertising.

Mr Booth was also accused of making up evidence when he blamed a series of controversial political newspaper advertisements on a retired psychiatric nurse, who died suddenly of a heart attack before the two-week ICAC hearing began. "Much of the evidence of Mr Booth throughout the public inquiry was difficult to reconcile with the evidence of other witnesses and documentary evidence," the inquiry report said. Mr Abbott's office referred questions to Mr Alexander, who had announced Mr Booth was to receive the award last year. The signatures of the Prime Minister and the MP appear on the certificate presented to Mr Booth. Asked if Mr Abbott had been advised that the award recipient was facing potential criminal charges for misleading the corruption watchdog, a spokesman for Mr Alexander said: "No, not in those terms". The Mate of Bennelong was "not a formal award," the spokesman said, describing it instead as "just a bit of irreverent humour following the mixed response to the knighthood for Prince Philip".

"You cannot go to any local community event in this area without seeing [Mr Booth] there, taking photos, sometimes putting his own money up and we certainly don't think that all of that should be ignored ... especially when [it is] innocent until proven guilty in our system," he said. Comment is being sought from Mr Booth. An account of Mr Abbott's visit appears in this week's edition of The Weekly Times. "Mr Abbott mingled with the over hundred attendees who most wanted a photo with their PM which they achieved despite the overzealous constraints of his persistent watchdog Peta Credlin who has attracted criticism from many government MPs as a control freak," the article said. However, Mr Alexander's spokesman said the paper's report was incorrect - Ms Credlin did not attend Monday's event.