On the 21st October 2000 Ettridge happily answered questions raised by Bruce Whiteside but refused to answer questions raised by Scott Balson. His email responses speak for themselves.
· What method and action did you implement to guarantee the silence of Pauline Hanson as the third member of the One Nation Executive?
· Given that the voluble Hanson has lashed out at ALL her associates, don't you think it remarkable and suspect that she has not said anything less than favourable of David Ettridge since you deserted One Nation? What is SHE scared of?
· Given that you claim that you left One Nation in good shape, can you justify this statement by accounting for the millions of dollars that went through the cheque book that you controlled. What are YOU scared of?
Ettridge replied:
I am quite pleased to reply to Bruce's questions. Your whole agenda and book and vitriol has been fueled by misinformation and your preference to believe any negative gossip. Very little in the promo pieces of your book are accurate. It might make interesting reading to a few looking for a conspiracy but every bit of misinformation can be defeated with the facts.
The answers to Bruces questions are:
Q1. None. Pauline has been in full control of the Nat Executive since the Federal AGM in '99. It is stacked with Pauline disciples who never challenge any of her directions which they blindly follow. Time will show that their blind obedience to Pauline will lead to their financial peril. Pauline wont follow any opinion except her own.
Q2. You obviously aren't talking to the same people I am. Pauline has been attacking me for 12 months throughout Australia.
Q3. One Nation had more accountability than any other political party in Australia's history. It needed 4 signatures to get at the federal funding which was held in a special trust account and audited by the Australian Electoral Commission. We created the trust account so no one could claim any financial impropriety on our part. Heather Hill has copies of the full accounts of the trust account. She apparantly gave them to everyone except you. Of all the issues raised about us, financial accountability is the one isssue on which I/we could not be damaged. None of the several journo's who received copies of the trust accounts could see any 'missing millions'. This phurphy was created by Heather Hill to confuse people based upon the unusual way the AEC required us to report on money which was double banked. For example after banking the federal funding, approx $850,000 was banked into the NSW State Campaign account. After the election the $850,000 refund from the State Electoral commission was also rebanked. According to the way the AEC required us to report all banking, the figures showed that this single $850,000 amount had been multiple banked, so of the original $850,000 it was shown as a total of two extra bankings which lifted our banking by $1.7 million. Heather encouraged people to ask 'where is the missing money' It never was missing, but this dishonest strategy served to confuse members and justify the treacherous actions of the CCA to those gullible enough to believe them.
None of this affects me anymore. I am doing extremely well in my business activities and watching from the sidelines. The true traitors are those who could not get what they wanted from One Nation and did what they could to destroy what was clearly the 3rd largest political party in Australia and one which was ready to beat the crap out of the majors at the 2001 elections. At the end the party destroyed a lot of itself to a large extent. All the inside traitors accepted any gossip and misinformation that justified their actions or ambitions. Pauline now needs the party as a financial and ego support system and it functions more as a cult than a political party. It was never going to operate that way while I was there. I put the party ahead of Pauline and David Oldfield. It was always bigger than eny individual in it. It was my rejection of pauline's election expenses claim that triggered the breakdown of my relationship with her. She privately turned on me that day and only recently became less protective of her public attitude towards me.
Who cares. DE.
Hi David
Thank you for your swift reply.
I have a few questions I would personally like you to answer. Brief to the point answers will suffice.
1) Why were the One Nation members never allowed to view a full and complete audit of One Nation related accounts - and I am not just talking about the $2.87 million trust account. (ie Donations, membership fees, fund raising, etc... from 1997 when ON Ltd was formed until you left). I am talking about a complete breakdown of ALL payments made, when and to whom.
(The trust account you continually refer to was nothing more than a portion of the lump sum paid by the AEC to ON after the Federal Election. I have seen it and seen how the money in it was spent.)
2) How much money did you, Champions Magazine Pty Ltd and other related business interests of yours claim from One Nation related accounts while you were in charge 1997 - 2000 (not just the trust account or ON Ltd). Only audited accounts will substantiate this.
3) What was the relationship, if any, between you, DO and Donald and Donald (NSW State election)... and were any commissions paid to anyone by Donald and Donald advertising from the over $600,000 they received from ON. What was the relationship, if any, between you, DO and MPD? Did you have a financial interest in any other businesses who were paid money by ON?
4) If you were such an expert in fund raising why were all the major fund raising drives such a flop?
5) Why did you ask me to witness your paying the band leader $1,500 in cash at the ON birthday party in 1998 - he gave you no receipt - and you used the money donated by the 500 Club members the night before... is that good or honest accounting practise?
6) How do you account for claims in the thousands of dollars you made against ON in 1997 when you never held receipts while candidates were forced to go through such a strict assessment before Manly paid them a cent. Is this not a clear case of double standards?
7) You f***ed up ON in Victoria - it is quite clear that you used the withholding of money from Robyn Spencer to destroy the party in that state because she questioned your authority. How can you refute this claim?
8) You used Manly office resources and its staff to launch your magazine Champions in 1997. There is clear evidence of this. How can you justify this at a time when there were complaints from all over Australia about a "lack of communication with Manly office"?
9) Did you ever use ON money for private and unrelated expenses such as postage, printing, letters, etc for Champions Magazine Pty Ltd? How can ON members be sure seeing that many expenses claimed by you never had receipts and with your rather abysmal track record - as clearly recorded in the Supreme Court on-line with relation to your film production ventures and the 94% commission.
10) Who owns the copyright of Ms Hanson wrapped in a flag and why did ON reimburse you for the costs of having this picture taken if you own the copyright? This issue saw Helen Dodd being unceremoniously expelled from Ms Hanson's office according to Dodd.
11) How come no-one trusted you? And I mean no-one. Many perceived you to be a con man... is this true?
12) Why weren't One Nation members told about your 3 year contract with One Nation Limited? What were its terms? Why the secrecy? Are you still being paid under this agreement after you resigned?
Quite simply put David your involvement with One Nation will always be recorded by history as another dark and questionable chapter in your life - and it did not take my book to pin point some of these aspects....
I personally believe that Bruce Whiteside was right when he called you a con man at that meeting in which you first met him. The structure you developed after taking over PHSM, I believe, clearly reflects that... from the extraordinary franchise agreement signed on 24th May 1997 to the curtain that hid all financial dealings after the company was formed.....
You might "be getting on with your life" and so am I... the difference is how history will reflect on your past and how you destroyed the people's movement. I am pleased that I am not in your shoes.... believe me.
My questions are not based on vitriol but a sincere interest to see if you have it in you to be honest with those you deal with - just this once.
Somehow I doubt it.
Scott Balson
Scott, I am not going to become your pen pal. You should have sought those answers before you wrote your badly researched book. The answers wont change the rubbish you present to the few people who will actually read your 'best seller'.
DE
Note the difference is opening response by Ettridge (in italicised red) when the heat gets turned on.
Scott.
I enjoy reading your reports on your website.I was at a One Nation meeting (state and National executive etc) last night and yesterday and afterwards spoke to people on the state executive about certain subjects, one of these was the domination of One Nation by the two Davids and others. Why we blindly followed these people is unknown to me but when you believe in something I feel it is quite easy to do.The National executive has given autonomy to the states. The reply from Ettridge about Pauline's control of the National executive is untrue and obviously sour grapes of a person and group whom could'nt get their own way. Pauline has made some mistakes, everybody knows this but we now have what we wanted to have. A totally transparent party where all decisions are made democratically. Ettridge resigned from the party (before being sacked by the National executive). But remained on the board of One Nation limited. He will have to account for his actions. Oldfield was given plenty of leeway to comply with the wishes of the National and state executive but seemed hell bent to follow his own (and others) agenda.
The approval to the move to expell Oldfield has been astounding, we have had new applications to membership and enquiries from others whom did not renew about two years ago due to strife we had here involving Ettridge and Oldfield. There was talk of you too. It was mentioned that Oldfield "screwed" you in the past. Whilst Ettridge and Oldfield were involved in One Nation they were CCA's "best friends" so to speak, but now with them gone I feel that many of the CCA's membership will revert back to One Nation and I believe we should at least be united in the attack against the Major parties. It would be more credible for the move across to be made immediatly, and also probably more of a political survival issue to those who could eat humble pie. A place(s) on the One Nation National executive may be waiting, who knows.Are you sure that someone won't take the initiative. I am only a One Nation Member whom would like to see all the people that feel the way I do about the destruction of this country get together to have the best voice and kick arse.
Neil Turner.
Wagga Wagga