Has Abbott perverted the course of justice?

[IQS.RLOW]

I agree. Abbott was given the task to effectively stem the bleeding of right wing supporters to ON, thats politics but there must have been some argument for the initial judgement to be handed down- rightly or wrongly.

[Rorschach]

Yes there was... but it was WRONGLY.

There was another case of "false" imprisonment at the time and that woman was paid compensation by the Labor Government. Hanson and Ettridge were not.

[Rorschach]

From Peter Coleman.... The Spectator.

The other scandal was the dreadful gaoling of Pauline Hanson in Beattie’s Queensland for allegedly rorting the funding provisions of the electoral act. It was, as I said during the controversy, ‘a blot on Australian history.’ But Hanson told Latham that it was all the fault of Tony Abbott who had ‘organised the slush fund which saw my imprisonment’. Latham in turn asked Abbott why he had put Hanson in gaol. This is disgraceful stuff.

I was one of the trustees (along with the late John Wheeldon) of the fund that Abbott raised. The idea was to avoid the Labor Party’s counter-productive attacks on One Nation as some sort of Nazi party, while helping a disenchanted former worker in Hanson’s office take legal action to deregister One Nation for accepting public funding on the basis of a large membership when it appeared to have only three real members. We had the high-falutin title ‘Australians for Honest Government’. When the former One Nation worker dropped her deregistration plans, we returned the funds to the donors and folded up. Abbott had nothing to do with the prosecution of Hanson under the Queensland Crimes Act and her prison sentence (later quashed by the court of appeal).

http://www.spectator.co.uk/australia/62 ... -notes-87/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Like I said, it will be interesting to see what comes of it.
Considering I'm fairly certain the group was actually called... "Australians for honest politics" and that Terry Sharples was a bloke.

Action against the One Nation party

In 1998, Abbott established a trust fund called "Australians for Honest Politics Trust" to help bankroll civil court cases against the One Nation party and its founders, Pauline Hanson and David Ettridge. The prosecution resulted in Hanson and Ettridge being imprisoned, although the conviction against them was ultimately overturned.

[Rorschach]

In 1998, Abbott privately agreed to bankroll Terry Sharples, a disaffected One Nation member, to take legal action against Pauline Hanson.

He then created a slush fund he called Australians for Honest Politics and raised $100,000 for it from 12 people he declined to name. The fund began bankrolling more court actions against Hanson and her party.

And there it rested, his lies largely unknown to the public, until court proceedings by Sharples he’d helped kick-start finally resulted in her being jailed.

The overwhelming majority of Australians, like her or hate her, hated that, blamed Abbott for setting the legal wheels in motion, and wanted to know the details.

Much later, the Electoral Commission decided that Abbott did have an obligation to disclose his donors. Unfortunately, by this time, they could not legally compel Abbott to do so, because the Statute of Limitations has expired. So they asked him nicely. But he refused.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/201 ... character/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mr Abbott said on Wednesday that the issue arose ''from the campaign I waged about 15 years ago to expose what I thought was the dodgy nature of the One Nation Party''.

''I certainly thought back then that it was a dodgy party and that position of mine was vindicated by the courts,'' he said.

''Obviously there's still some hard feelings from those days but it's now before the courts and I'm confident that everything I did back then was justifiable and could be justified.''

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politi ... z2Qg9yHa4Z" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Personally I never felt his actions were justified. It was purely political and he was a zealot and proven wrong.
like I said... I'll be very interested in the outcome.

[mantra]

GAME ON

Media release - David Ettridge

http://www.independentaustralia.net/Wor ... mber-2.pdf

[Rorschach]

Why wait till now?
That is NOT a good look.
Many people who supported ON would like to see Labor, who were the first party to; condemn, ridicule and vilify them, out of office.

It is looking at some levels, as an act of opportunism and just sour grapes.

[mantra]

As Queensland Labor has been wiped out - it is unnecessary to pursue them.

It is looking at some levels, as an act of opportunism and just sour grapes.

Perhaps it is an act of political opportunism - who'd have thought it? Ettridge might be backed by someone influential who doesn't want to see Abbott as leader?

If there is some success in suing Abbott - who would the LNP replace him with? Turnbull? Bishop?

[mellie]

As Queensland Labor has been wiped out - it is unnecessary to pursue them.

It is looking at some levels, as an act of opportunism and just sour grapes.

Perhaps it is an act of political opportunism - who'd have thought it? Ettridge might be backed by someone influential who doesn't want to see Abbott as leader?

If there is some success in suing Abbott - who would the LNP replace him with? Turnbull? Bishop?

Wont happen Mantra.



Just smoke/mirrors....all that jazz. ...the ALP trying desperately to distract you from their own scandals and electoral failings.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Ignoring what others have said, I will elaborate my memories on these events.

Pauline Hanson was a former Liberal party member.
Pauline Hanson posed a risk to the Lib/Nat coalition by potentially fracturing the conservative vote.

An Australian political party must have a minimum of 500 members.
One Nation only ever had 3 members. This was done to prevent infiltrators deposing them via branch stacking.

A registered political party is entitled to funds from the electoral commission if certain criteria are met.
4% of primary votes gets the electoral candidate's fee rebated/returned, and roughly $2.60 for every federal primary vote and about $1.70 for state primary votes.

Pauline Hanson (acting on poor advice) as leader of One Nation submitted the One Nation supporters group register as the One Nation political party register to qualify for electoral funding and in doing so committed fraud.

Tony Abbot spent $100,000 of Liberal party money and $20,000 of his own money to crucify Pauline Hanson.

I'm not taking sides or getting into disputes regarding ethics or morals, that's just the way I remember the relevant details.

[Rorschach]

As Queensland Labor has been wiped out - it is unnecessary to pursue them.

It is looking at some levels, as an act of opportunism and just sour grapes.

Perhaps it is an act of political opportunism - who'd have thought it? Ettridge might be backed by someone influential who doesn't want to see Abbott as leader?

If there is some success in suing Abbott - who would the LNP replace him with? Turnbull? Bishop?

Federal Labor were the ones who threw the first stone mantra as you well know, and they've been throwing them ever since.