Should Pauline Hanson Be Jailed?

[gex_gex]

originally posted by Eolbo
But she wasn’t on trial for not being nice and nor was the charge that of being a loathsome, ignorant and hateful woman.

This I completely agree with.

In the normal scheme of things her electoral offences, and they are technical ones would be prosecuted under the Electoral Act. Due to a technicality relating to the passage of time however she was prosecuted under criminal provisions and she has received a penalty 5 times greater then the maximum she would have received if prosecuted under the appropriate act.

Are you suggesting she should not have been prosected because she couldn’t have been prosecuted under a law that would result ina more lenient penalty?

And whatever way you view her or her politics thats just wrong.

She stole $500 000. That’s wrong, whether she did so on a techincality or not.

[Eolbo]

*Originally posted by gex gex *
**
Are you suggesting she should not have been prosected because she couldn’t have been prosecuted under a law that would result ina more lenient penalty?

**

No. I am suggesting that offences should be prosecuted under the appropriate act, and in this case its the Electoral Act. If the crown cant get its shit together and prosecute within the required timeframe and chooses to prosecute under a different Act instead then the penalties of the appropriate Act rather then the substitute should be applied. If something attracts a sentence of six months then the sentence should be six months, not 3 years because on technical grounds we substituted a second Act.

[Eolbo]

Here is an extract from a link another poster above provided:

While more than 1,000 signatories endorsed One Nation’s registration application, a Queensland Supreme Court judge ruled in August 1999 that they were not genuine party members, paving the way for the current prosecution.

Justice Rosalyn Atkinson declared that One Nation’s registration had been “induced by fraud and misrepresentation” because the signatories on the list submitted to the Queensland Electoral Commission were merely members of the Pauline Hanson Support Movement and its successor, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Members Inc. Under the constitution of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, already registered as a federal party, Hanson, Ettridge and another founder, David Oldfield, were its only three members.

While this autocratic set-up, designed to concentrate all decision-making in the hands of the One Nation troika, opened the way for Atkinson’s judgement, there was no dispute that the signatories regarded themselves as party members for the purpose of registering One Nation to contest Queensland state elections. The state Electoral Commission had itself checked and authenticated their membership claims, verifying 97 percent as genuine.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jul2002/hans-j18.shtml

Thats it. Thats the offence she committed.

I just cant see it as being ‘robbing’ the public myself. The public didnt lose one cent that it wouldnt have paid out anyway if she wasn’t such a control freak obsessed with maintaining her own leadership over ‘her’ party.

[woolly]

For the locals involved in this thread, I recommend this transcript for “Insiders” 24/08/2003 in an interview with Antony Green. Party registration laws under the microscope

A couple of illuminating passages:

BARRIE CASSIDY: So let’s just be clear about this then - if she’d followed those procedures at the federal level - no crime?

ANTONY GREEN: She did follow them. It was registered…

BARRIE CASSIDY: If she had been a sitting member of the Queensland Parliament at the time, again no crime would have been committed?

ANTONY GREEN: No crime would have been committed. It says - A, if you are a member of Parliament or B, if you have 500 members. So exactly the same structure with all that lack of democracy is formal and they’ve got nearly $5 million of public funding with it federally, no problem. But in the State, they misrepresented whether those people were members.

ANTONY GREEN: … And another thing I would say about the money is in Queensland you had to get the $500,000 by presenting receipts, you had to actually spend spend the money campaigning. The $4.5 million they’ve got federally had no receipts, it was just handed over as a cheque, you don’t have to spend it on campaigning, it’s free to go.

[elucidator]

Aussies got politics! Who knew?

[don_t_ask]

This should get really funny soon. Bronwyn Bishop has called Hanson a political prisoner and explains how Beatty could only prosecute her due to the civil case that found the party’s registration invalid. Since that case was funded by fellow Liberal Tony Abbott and friends (although Abbott later lied about this on ABC TV) things may get heated.

[woolly]

A bump of a long dead thread but I think justified in it’s context.

Pauline Hanson and David Etteridge have just had their convictions overturned by Chief Justice Paul de Jersey of the Queensland Court of Appeal and been released after 78 days in jail.

In the judgement the Chief Justice has out brickbats to virtually everybody involved in the initial trial.

[woolly]

A bump of a long dead thread but I think justified in it’s context.

Pauline Hanson and David Etteridge have just had their convictions overturned by Chief Justice Paul de Jersey of the Queensland Court of Appeal and been released after 78 days in jail.

In the judgement the Chief Justice has handed out brickbats to virtually everybody involved in the initial trial.

[Duckster]

Here’s another article from the SMH

As I stated in my original post, as much as I find everything about her yuckky, this court sentence makes here a political prisoner, jailed for her political beliefs.

Regardless that Hanson is scum, IMHO, the government really screwed up on this one. Now will she sue for compensation?

[Gorsnak]

Doesn’t she already have $500k in compensation?

[Gorsnak]

Doesn’t she already have $500k in compensation?

[gex_gex]

originally posted by Duckster
As I stated in my original post, as much as I find everything about her yuckky, this court sentence makes here a political prisoner, jailed for her political beliefs.

I wouldn’t agree that she was a political prisoner. I accepted the courts original ruling, and I accept this one, but to suggest that Hanson was a political prisoner implies a very serious corruption in our judicial system. While that possibility must never be completely ruled out, I would rather see some evidence stronger than “Hanson had unpopular political beliefs and was (erroneously) sent to gaol, therefore she was gaoled for her political beliefs.” I don’t see strong evidence for such a serious contention.

[elucidator]

Wow! Clams got legs! Aussies got politics! Who knew?

[woolly]

Bugger, we’ve been rumbled.

OK, I’ll hold him while the rest of youse kick him to death.

[Desmostylus]

I’ve got some fava beans. You got any chianti?

[woolly]

Yeah, but 'im being exceptionally long in the tooth and likely almost as digestable as boot leather (the recipie for galah pie comes to mind) so a bloody big Barossa Shiraz might be more appropriate.

[Desmostylus]

I’ll drink to that, he was a bit chewy.

Gonna miss old luc. Unless he starts repeating on me. Urp.

[auliya]

bugger alright

And he was one of my favourite posters.

Besides which - I am expecting Ms Hanson to announce her membership of the Greens or the Democrats any day, now she is all fired up over the wrongful treatment of all the “mates” left behind

Upon her release, a tearful Ms Hanson called for reform of the justice system and urged retired judges and lawyers to join a campaign to assist those who were wrongly jailed