 In 1999, under parliamentary privilege, Senator Kim Carr referred to a number of institutions including St Clements University which, in his opinion, were operating from Australia as "degree mills".He said that when a member of his staff contacted the company identified as administering St Clements it was discovered that it was also a whisky distributing company and alleged educational services company.Senator Carr subsequently referred to St Clements as reminiscent of "the famous pirates of old ... using legal devices and incompetence by government ministers and making a bridgehead into this country’s educational institutions" and as being operated out of a "grog shop" (Australian slang for a liquor store).