Tuesday, May 28, 2002
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By Amit Baruah
The co-founder of her One Nation party, David Ettridge, has also been charged. Both the leaders will face trial on electoral fraud charged linked to the illegal registration of One Nation in 1997. In 1999, the Queensland Supreme Court had ruled that One Nation had used the services of supporters who were not full paid members to get the party fraudulently registered in Queensland. ``Your Worship, I still state that I am not guilty of the three charges,'' Ms. Hanson told the Brisbane Magistrate, Michael Halliday. A separate fraud charge against Ms. Hanson alleges that she withdrew $ 20,000 (Australian) illegally from a fund set up two years ago to repay the Queensland Electoral Commission. Earlier, the Commission had sought the return of $500,000 in funding allocated to One Nation based on its party strength. Speaking outside the court, Ms. Hanson said: "I just want to say that though this has been committed to trial, the Australian people will have an opportunity to listen to the evidence that will be put forward and hopefully, they will see that I am innocent and so is David Ettridge. ``I registered a political party to give the people of Queensland an opportunity to vote for someone other than the major political parties and I still stand by that and I encourage as many Queenslanders, and Australians for that matter, to please come to the trial, listen to the evidence and judge for themselves,'' she said. ``People who have been witnesses in this court...have lied,'' the far Right leader said about those who testified in month-long committal proceedings. A date for the trial is still to be fixed. Ms. Hanson and her anti-immigrant One Nation party have seen her political fortunes nose-dive as mainstream political parties have taken up the agenda she pursued.
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