>>TBH I used C# to write this and used a converter to get the VB version. IIRC the usual reason to use square brackets around a string in VB is to avoid confusing the compiler when the text itself if a VB.NET keyword but I don't think it is actually neccessary in this context.....

I think Gregory actually gave the right answer.
GetType([Object]) works OK but is identical to just GetType(Object)
You were probably thinking of the static Type.GetType("System.Object") which would also work.
The square bracket usage is normally for things like:
Dim [integer] As Integer
Without the [] it will refuse to compile since 'integer' is a keyword (same sort of usage occurs in T-SQL ?)
Not good practice of course......