22nd November 1999

A remarkable 24 Hours

Sunday is normally a very relaxing day for me. But yesterday was an exception to the rule.

On Saturday I responded by email to a letter by David Ettridge calling me an "enemy of One Nation".  My email was sent to One Nation branches listed on the party's contact page and answered the claims made by the party's National Director.

Ettridge's letter and my email response can be seen at this link. About twenty responses have been received so far. The context of the responses and the growing concern in Manly's operations can be quite clearly seen.

Yesterday I carried a story calling for the two Davids to resign from the national executive and for the party's structure to be radically changed with the removal of the Pauline Hanson's One Nation Limited company from the picture. I called for the establishment of a small working committee made up of a few members from each state to discuss the election of a new national executive to replace the current national executive and to act on a temporary basis until the next AGM is called when a new national executive can be appointed. (For the record I am sick and tired of the comment by Ettridge and Oldfield that "they were democratically elected at the last AGM".. for the simple reason that they are quite clearly the most important factor behind the rapid decline in the falling support being faced by this party. If they really had the party's best interests in mind they would recognise this and step aside.)

The email I sent on Saturday and the article on Sunday have resulted in an extraordinary response from senior officials within the party. I spent much of the day on the phone. There is quite clearly the recognition within the party's most senior levels that we have a problem at Manly and the comment that "the two Davids have my full support" by Pauline Hanson is now being seen as irrelevant by many as they recognise that the party is in terminal decay while the current structure is allowed to remain.

Apparently even Manly are now recognising that they are on the losing end of the argument and are now trying to throw out the red-herring to senior party officials that "Scott is damaging the party by airing our dirty linen..."

Of course this is palpable rubbish. Everything I have said on the @notd over the last few weeks is already known by the media and has often been reported by the media in the past. In the case of the upcoming appeal on the party's deregistration the media has sat on the story waiting for maximum negative impact should the Supreme Court Judges support Justice atkinson's ruling - an outcome which all agree is highly likely.

The "airing of the dirty linen" that Manly talk about is quite simply my move to inform the party membership about the cold hard facts of what is going on in this party. I know that Manly would prefer that you are kept in the dark because that way they can control a situation which has been out of control for many months. Airing the issues has in effect de-sensitised a growing number of One Nation members - taking the blows out of reports in the papers and preparing us for action and understanding the options following the Court's decision.

One of the tragic revelations of the last few weeks to me has been the large and growing number of calls that I have had from people who have been coldly expelled or side-lined by the National Executive - and by David Ettridge in particular. It is quite clear now that behind the smiling, diplomatic facade that he presents is a cold, ruthless man who deserves absolutely no sympathy from the party membership at this time. He is the party's hatchet man and apparently relishes the job.

Tomorrow I will be covering the Supreme Court appeal.