One Nation co-founder suing Tony Abbott for $1.5m

[grandmoon]

A LAWSUIT by One Nation Party co-founder David Ettridge against federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will head to court next month.

Mr Ettridge is suing federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for damages of more than $1.5 million.

He has accused Mr Abbott of acting unlawfully in 1998 by assisting and encouraging litigation against One Nation in the Queensland courts.

Mr Ettridge alleges the court action was false and malicious and the resulting damage affected him greatly.

He also accuses Mr Abbott of attempting to pervert the course of justice by providing lawyers "to propel those false claims through the courts".

Mr Ettridge's lawyers served legal papers on Mr Abbott for damages on the weekend.

A spokesman for Mr Abbott told AAP the papers had been received, but declined to comment further.

A directions hearing is set for the Brisbane Supreme Court on May 9 and Mr Abbott has received a summons to attend.

"Before Tony Abbott can become prime minister of Australia he needs to be judged on his suitability to hold the highest office in Australia," Mr Ettridge told AAP in a statement.

"For his role in this disgraceful period of Australian political history, Tony Abbott has never been brought to account."

[catsnknots]

hahaha.. one person I would never think of having more than one ID is MM..... 

You, however, probably have half a dozen.... 😉

[lakeland27]

' I will try again. So LL, what 3rd party do you envisage would have legal standing, and could/would initiate whatever tort you have in mind?.'

please explain ? i'm not sure exactly what you are saying here . i am aware that the fault may lay with me.

[azureline**]

Tony Abbott today described the legal action by Mr Ettridge as a "sideshow" and said he was not worried about the law suit.

"Obviously there are still some hard feelings from those days, but the matter is now before the courts and I am confident that everything I did back then was justifiable and could be justified," Mr Abbott said.

The Opposition Leader said he "absolutely complied" with all of the obligations on him when he raised $100,000 to help fund court cases against One Nation and had already been cleared twice by the Australian Electoral Commission.

"I was never particularly critical of One Nation supporters, but I certainly thought back then that it was a dodgy party and that position of mine was vindicated by the courts," he said.

"This is a matter which will obviously be discussed with various legal representatives and I think its fair to say this is going to be just a bit of a sideshow and I try not to get involved in sideshows if I can avoid it."

So he admits he did that, I would think it was unethical.

[izabsmiling]

In  interviews of the past he has mucked up and got tangled up when defending his muck ups .

[nero_bolt]

I love watching hypocrisy..   The majority of the regulars on here all slammed Pauline and hated her and her policies and did nothing but condemn her and her party and still do yet someone did something about her (15 years ago) and her policies and now as its that evil AbbottAbbottAbbott  and he should pay and he should get the sack and he should stand down and he should get the sack... etc etc.... 

Hate hate hate and more hate and utter hypocrisy in full view.... 

[izabsmiling]

NW, I didn't and don't support any form of 'ism' .I also know and have to accept that rule of law is an important part of our Democracy .

[newstart2380]

In  interviews of the past he has mucked up and got tangled up when defending his muck ups .

Were there any major lies or promises broken during his "muck ups" ?

We can all be guilty at some stage or another getting tangled up when speaking to someone and feel the need to defend ones self like LL when he gets all flabbergasted and won't reply to a question put to him about posts he has made here if he feels he may have been wrong.

I thought this forum was about putting a subject forward for debate, then replying to comments with a sensible point of view or asking questions about comments made by others in a respectful way.

[izabsmiling]

Newstart , re an early post and your reply 

Abbott set up slush fund to ruin Hanson

By Mike Seccombe
August 26, 2003

One of the Howard Government's most senior ministers last night revealed he raised nearly $100,000 to lay the groundwork for Pauline Hanson's prosecution for electoral fraud.

The Minister for Workplace Relations, Tony Abbott, admitted setting up a trust, Australians for Honest Politics, from donations to pay for legal actions against Hanson and her party, One Nation.

He had also organised a separate "donor" to support a One Nation dissident, Terry Sharples, in seeking an injunction to block One Nation from receiving public electoral funds.

Mr Abbott said the money was promised to cover Mr Sharples if the case failed and costs were awarded against him.

The minister organised a team of lawyers who would represent Mr Sharples without charge, and then a second team after Mr Sharples sacked the first.

Mr Abbott also acknowledged that he had at one time instructed his lawyers to offer Mr Sharples $10,000 of his own money if he would stop pursuing him for money to cover his huge court costs.

He said he had set up Australians for Honest Politics in 1998 because he believed One Nation was fraudulently registered.

read more

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/25/1061663736939.html

[azureline**]

as a regular, I can say I never slammed Pauline.....some of her ideas I agreed with, some not. Same as any other party......

What was done and how it was gone about was deceitful, underhanded and abhorrent.

[newstart2380]

Which post and reply so I can go back and have a read because I did not say Abbott set up slush fund to ruin Hanson.