Ding Dong The Witches Are Dead! (Well, in prison, at least!)

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s928541.htm

Last Update: Wednesday, August 20, 2003. 4:44pm (AEST)

(Reuters)

Hanson, Ettridge jailed for three years over fraud

Former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and former One Nation director David Ettridge have been sentenced to three years jail after being found guilty of electoral fraud in the District Court in Brisbane.

Hanson was also sentenced to three years for dishonestly obtaining $500,000 in electoral funds from the Queensland Electoral Commission.

That sentence is to be served concurrently.

Chief Judge Patsy Wolfe said the pair had undermined public confidence in the political process and she made no recommendation for parole.

Hanson and Ettridge embraced in the dock before Ettridge was led off.

Hanson embraced family members and supporters before she was also taken away.

Party 'devastated'

The vice president of One Nation in Western Australia, Brian McRae, says the party is devastated.

He says he does not believe the convictions will bring the party into disrepute.

"Generally most people realise it's a political witchhunt, people who aren't even in the party," he said.

"We have people all the time saying 'what are they doing to Pauline', you know most people agree with her."

Before the sentence was handed down, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the verdict would not spell the end of One Nation.

He says Hanson may now become a martyr.

"There will be people who will see her as being martyred," he said.

"I just say to all those people who think that way that this process has been followed in accordance with the law, there has been no political interference, this has been due process."

One Nation has two MPs in the Queensland parliament.

Leader Bill Flynn disagrees with the verdict but says it is not the end of the party.

"I'm not going to go into conspiracy theories, we think there was a weight of opinion in certain areas of influence to make sure that this happened," he said.

"They felt that if they could nobble the rider, the horse would wander off on its own."

The Queensland National Party leader, Lawrence Springborg, says no-one should take pleasure from the Hanson verdict.

"The jury has made this decision, I don't think anyone should gloat over it and I believe it's now time to move on," he said.

Damn fine sentiments, Lawrence, but I wish to spend just one, shocking, bad-karma-inducing moment gloating.

I am sure none but the Australians here will know that Pauline Hanson, David Ettridge and "the other David", about a decade ago, formed, out of the pain and bewilderment of a lot of globalisation, economical rationalism and generally change-drunk and on the ropes Australians (or folk who feared they would soon be on the ropes), an exceedingly nasty political party.

It was based on racism, fear, (synonyms?), backlash (against advances made by Aboriginal people, people from non-English-speaking backgrounds, gays etc), xenophobia and general paranoia.

It, rather like Hitler's Nazional Socialistischen Arbeitungszpartie, gathered together the disaffected, bewildered, lost, racist, reactionary and nouveau poor, and fed them an odd diet of hate, nationalism, patriotism, anti-everything, motherhood slogans, anti-politicianism and nostalgia.

They created, out of the dark and bewildered underbelly of Australia, a party which, through clever choice of seats - (ie focussing on seats which would determine the balance of power) - especially in Queensland, the "Deep South" (in this case, north) of Australia - had a grossly disproportionate influence on Australian political life - especially given the moral cowardice of the ruling conservative party, which NEVER denounced the party, fearing to lose power through vulnerable country seats.

Their power was terrifying to Aboriginal people, immigrants (other than northern Europeans) and anyone with any sense (ok, I am biased, and PROUD of it!)

I have sung, marched and generally frothed at the mouth over them.

I am GLAD they (having lost control and influence a few years ago) will be punished for at least a tiny - and possibly least important - part of their dishonesty and fraudulent dealings.

I would be happier if there had been a way to convict them for their racist lies and bullying. We have free speech - so they are immune to punishment for the pain they have caused in the important ways.

I will doubtless feel sorry for Hanson soon - she is, I believe, a stupid catspaw.

But - stupid or not, she had a responsibility for the crap she uttererd, and the pain it caused.

I hope she learns something....

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Great news. I heard she was found guilty - didn't realise she'd been sentenced. Wonder how long she'll spend in the nick? Probably out in a year - but how could they consider her a martyr - she's a criminal!

Oh - well - electoral fraud is better than nothing, and she deserved more!

Don't even dream of feeling sorry for her, Deb - she's an abomination, a walking crime against commonsense and reason! .

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They'll appeal...

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Let's not forget Hanson started as a Liberal Party candidate and won her seat as an independent after being dis-endorsed. Hanson is not far removed from those on the right of the Liberal and National parties. John Howard has cynically used the emotions she stirred to gain victory. Remember " we will decide who comes to Australia and we will decide when'. A perfectly reasonable proposition if you ignore the xenophobic background in which the slogan was used. Hanson is a nasty fool but the truly dangerous are clever and nasty

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Indeed!

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I don't know how it works in Oz, but here in Canada, we hide our natives on reservations so we can maintain bland elections where no party needs to bring racism or xenophobia into their platform. Out of sight, out of mind, it's the Canadian way.

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In Australia, I understand that they have strict gun control laws. You folks need to eliminate that. When the populace has their own guns, the government is much less likely to try to become Nazi-like. Guns put power in the hands of the people where it belongs. Government intimidation of the Aboriginal people and others of Australia is an abomination.
Although I must confess that here in the U.S. John Ashcroft and Tom Ridge are trying an end run with their so-called Patriot Act to peck away at personal freedoms. But we're not going to put up with their ilk much longer.
And we also treat our Native American Indians like second-class citizens. The U.S. Government should be ashamed but they aren't.

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grottomaster, I am certain that you are a responsible gun owner, and I know many in the States. However, I don't see how loosening gun restrictions is going to solve any political problems anywhere in the world. You are almost suggesting that a Government that allows the populace to carry guns freely won't tend towards becoming Nazi-like out of fear of being shot by vigilantes. No offence, but that idea sickens me.

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Well, um, I'm pretty strong on gun ownership, but we don't shoot crooked politicians - yet. In other words, I don't quite see the connection.

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Deb, at least action has been taken and sentences have been handed down in Australia. Not so with the American Indians.

This includes excerpts from a letter written by Elouis Cobell summarizing the history of the "Cobell litigation" to reimburse money put into trust over 100 years ago. The litigation has been ongoing for 15 years. The BIA--Bureau of Indian Affairs-can no longer be contacted on the internet, the site has been shut down due to (they say) the Cobell litigation........

Quote:

Yet today, after three Cabinet secretaries have been held in contempt by a federal judge and after four lengthy trials and a successful defense on appeal of our claims on the merits, the federal government has failed to clean up the trust records. It cannot certify the accuracy of a single one of the estimated 500,000 current individual Indian trust accounts.
============

Unfortunately, the commissioner of the Bureau of Public Debt, a senior Treasury Department official, testified in our case that the United States has used our trust funds to reduce the national debt. But no one knows how much of our money was used to reduce the debt load of this
country or how many years the U.S. government used our trust money for these and other important government purposes, such as building dams and major power projects in the West.

We hope an accounting will finally tell the true story of how the government has used Individual Indian Trust funds for more than 100 years. And, we also hope that we will learn what really happened to 40 million acres of Individual Indian Trust land that simply vanished, according to the testimony of the head of Interior's Office of Historical Accounting.
============

In 1989, the Senate Special Committee on Investigations found that "fraud and corruption pervade" the Interior Department. The General Accounting Office warned both Republican and Democratic administrations for years that this is a very serious problem.

In 1994, Congress ordered Interior to account for the missing funds. Nothing happened.
==============

.... .provide us a complete accounting of all trust assets, including the
revenues generated from our trust lands since the creation of the Individual Indian Trust in 1887.
===========

It has admitted, (The Department of Interior) however, that at least $13 billion in nominal dollars has been collected from Individual Indian Trust lands. But it doesn't know what happened to this money or the compound interest this money was earning for generations.

And remember these are accounts the government created for some of the poorest Americans. We Indians had no choice in the matter. The government unilaterally decided we were incompetent to handle our own funds and created the trust in 1887.
==============

Any settlement must be fair and just to make Indians whole for monies that have been collected by the United States for 116 years.

It is, after all, our money. It is our property right.

Elouise Cobell

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Folks, I see where you're coming from but the idea is really not to shoot the politicians. The idea is that PSYCHOLOGICALLY, the government views an armed country with heightened respect. There are some v e r y nasty people who get into politics and some would like never to leave office. Perhaps an example will illustrate my point better: Would Joe Stalin have been able to dominate and abuse the people of the (now defunct) USSR had the people been armed? I don't think he would have tried. If he did, he would have had an "Afghanistan" on his hands. At least there would have been a struggle.
I guess that was my point.
We often don't think about these things until it's too late!

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Where is Setanta, my history is rusty....

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grottomaster wrote:

In Australia, I understand that they have strict gun control laws. You folks need to eliminate that. When the populace has their own guns, the government is much less likely to try to become Nazi-like. Guns put power in the hands of the people where it belongs. Government intimidation of the Aboriginal people and others of Australia is an abomination.
Although I must confess that here in the U.S. John Ashcroft and Tom Ridge are trying an end run with their so-called Patriot Act to peck away at personal freedoms. But we're not going to put up with their ilk much longer.
And we also treat our Native American Indians like second-class citizens. The U.S. Government should be ashamed but they aren't.

Oh, Grottomaster - we seemed to manage with just the law, here. Oh - and the voters....

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Yes dlowan, we will not shoot them, hopefully we will sensibly vote them out of office. It is a bonus that like in the US most people approve of gun control. I have handled a gun only once, spotlighting for ( dare I say it) bunnies. I've not needed a gun in my 55 years and had not seen a hand gun until the police began wearing exposed hip holsters.

I suggest politicians fear loss of office much more than loss of life.

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dlowan, y'know, it's like this in good old Appalachia:
"It ain't the people who vote that count; it's the people who count the votes that count."
(Honestly, I think it was Joe Stalin who first orated that concept.)

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LOL! I actually have faith in our Electoral Commission.

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So far no chads.......heehee....

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Quinn is right, you know - "I suggest politicians fear loss of office much more than loss of life." Truely, a liveform that would rather die than work.

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And they're OUT, dammit!!!! COURTS!

Friday, November 7, 2003. 7:00am (AEDT)

Pauline Hanson speaks to the media after being released from prison. (ABC TV)

Hanson calls for judicial reform

One Nation co-founders Pauline Hanson and David Ettridge are savouring their freedom this morning after being released from prison in Brisbane.

In a unanimous decision by three judges, the Queensland Court of Appeal yesterday quashed their electoral fraud convictions and set aside their three year jail sentences.

There was also a rebuke for a broad range of politicians for their respective comments and criticisms about the high profile case, a judgment endorsed by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie.

"I think a lot of the politicians from the Prime Minister down should've known better," Mr Beattie said.

Miss Hanson emerged from prison, where she had spent the past 11 weeks, emotional and relieved, vowing to fight what she considered to be an unfair judicial system.

She has called for sweeping judicial reforms, saying the legal system has let her down.

She also implored retired judges and lawyers to help people who have been wrongly jailed.

"It has got to a stage that you've either got the money to pay for your freedom because there is a lot of girls in there that don't have the legal help," Ms Hanson said.

One Nation co-founder David Ettridge also walked free from jail and wasted little time in flying out of Queensland, but he warned that the whole legal drama would reinvigorate the Party.

"They have created a political monster again which will frighten them at the next election and they damn well deserve it," Mr Ettridge said.

"Pauline and I may have been in this prison for three years and that is an absolute tragedy for democracy in Australia."

Mr Ettridge says has no plan to return to politics.

In its unanimous decision to acquit the pair, the Court of Appeal found the prosecution's case was flawed.
Abbott

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott, who helped set up a trust fund to fight One Nation's registration, has welcomed the outcome.

"It's all been the operation of the Queensland criminal justice system and I'm pleased that justice has been done," Mr Abbott said.

The pair will not face a retrial.
Oldfield

Pauline Hanson's former chief advisor, David Oldfield, has told the ABC's Lateline program he believes Miss Hanson will return to politics.

"I will be surprised if Pauline Hanson doesn't at some stage come back into politics," he said.

"I personally don't think that would be necessarily good for her as a person but I think she could be successful again and I think it's very likely she will be coaxed ... I think it's her nature to return and she will want to prove something, she will want to say 'I'm Back'."
"Unsustainable support"

A University of Queensland academic doubts that the outpouring of support for Pauline Hanson will be sustained.

Associate Professor at UQ's School of Political Science and International Studies, Paul Reynolds, says One Nation's support base has not demonstrated great staying power.

He says Labor enjoyed a landslide victory in the 2001 Queensland election based on the support of those who deserted the party in 1998.

"Really what you've got to do is balance out the buoying her personally by her true believers on the one hand and what she's got on the longer term to contribute to the political processes and it's the second problem about what she's got to offer to politics which I think is where she's vulnerable," he said.

"I doubt that over the next four to five to six months she's going to reinvent herself."

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People who have been in jail seem to always say two things:
1. I'm innocent.
2. The jail/justice system is bad and corrupt.
They say this mostly because:
1. They got caught doing something ornery/illegal.
2. They got raped/beat up while in jail.
Jails are for crooks and I wouldn't want it to be all that nice on the inside.
Now there's some philosophy for ya.

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Ding Dong The Witches Are Dead! (Well, in prison, at least!)

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