David William Ettridge (born 8 June 1945 in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Australia) is an Australian businessman who co-founded

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON or ONP), also known as One Nation or One Nation Party, is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. It is led by Pauline Hanson. One Nat ...

in 1997 with

Pauline Hanson Pauline Lee Hanson (''née'' Seccombe, formerly Zagorski; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party. Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australian ...

and David Oldfield. Ettridge was One Nation's professional fundraiser and administered and marketed the One Nation party. Leading a small team he helped to set up 350 branches throughout Australia and admitted 18,000 members to the party. On 20 August 2003, a jury from the

District Court of Queensland The District Court of Queensland (QDC) is the second tier in the court hierarchy of Queensland, Australia. The Court deals with serious criminal offences such as rape, armed robbery and fraud. Juries are used to decide if defendants are guilty ...

convicted Hanson and Ettridge of electoral fraud and the Chief Judge sentenced both to three years without parole for fraudulently registering the One Nation Party. Prosecutors had alleged that the use of a list of 500 paid-up members of a One Nation supporters group as members for the purpose of registering the party had been fraudulent. A police report which advised the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions that no offence had been committed was never revealed by the Crown and DPP. However, on 6 November 2003, the Queensland Court of Appeal quashed both convictions and Ettridge and Hanson were released from jail. In 2004, Ettridge published a book regarding the fraud conviction and acquittal. Following an extensive Queensland Fraud Squad investigation, the Queensland Police advised the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions that no offence had been committed. Ettridge used his own money for his legal defense, on the understanding that One Nation would repay him, but he states that he has never been repaid.

References

External links

David Ettridge profile
at

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

David Ettridge: The View From The 'Outside'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ettridge, David 1945 births Businesspeople from Adelaide Living people Pauline Hanson's One Nation politicians Australian businesspeople

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