19th December 1999
Scott, please circulate widely,
Martin Lebedinsky's letter was refreshing to see. Open questioning of the accountability of persons responsible for funds raised by members (and others) is great.
My fighting fund was established by donations from branches and members of One Nation as well as from the public. This account has been handled by an accountant who is a Chartered Practicing Accountant (CPA). All moneys received have been receipted and banked and all cheques written for expenses have been signed by this accountant. The bank account used is "Heather Hill's Fighting Fund" with the account details of BSB# 484-799 and Account # 041533321 with Suncorp Metway. The current balance is $5,069.48. There have been no transactions with this account since the High Court hearing.
My legal counsel of Mr Bob Ellicott QC, Mr David Rofe QC, Mr Anthony Tudehope (all from Sydney) donated there time on the basis of they would receive only those costs paid by the court. The fighting fund moneys have been used to pay travel and accommodation costs for my legal team in Canberra and to cover other legal costs (Solicitors in Brisbane), travel expenses for meetings in Sydney and Canberra with my legal team and some minor costs associated with meetings. It is important to note that the even though the court have awarded costs against the crown this return will not meet all costs associated with the case.
To finalise the account I am still awaiting funds to be returned from the court.
In the meantime, to enable an accurate statement to be prepared, I have requested a fax from the solicitor who handled the case, Russell Templeton of Watkins Stokes and Templeton (Pauline Hanson's One Nation Solicitor) to provide an estimate of the moneys expected to be returned. Russell's estimate of these moneys is approximately $3,900. If you have any queries regarding moneys for direct legal costs please call Russell in Brisbane. He prepared and submitted the claim to the court for costs and the return will come to him.
I am now preparing letters to go out for each receipt given. As I have always offered, this letter will provide a Statement of Accounts from the accountant and offer each person the following choice:
"We require your direction regarding the donation you made to the Heather Hill Fighting Fund. Please indicate which of the following options you wish to occur:
Each of these decisions will be binding and honoured by the Heather Hill Fighting Fund Committee.
I am happy for any member of the media or party member to inspect any and all documentation in relation to this Fighting Fund.
I am fully supportive of ensuring accountability of all funds involving member's money and public money for that matter. Keep questioning to ensure all public figures are kept accountable !!!
Heather Hill
A cheque paid to me out of the Heather Hill Fighting Fund account as a refund towards moneys collected from sales of the Book "Murder by Media" and deposited to that account can be seen at this link.
Note there are two signatories. The cheque has never been deposited by me. A scan of the cheque is at this link.
Compare that to the cheque sent to me by David Ettridge from the mysterious Pauline Hanson's One Nation account in June 1997 - the recipient of membership fees - the account from which about $50,000 was paid to Ettridge's Champions Magazine Pty Ltd between May and August 1997. There is only one signature - in fact all payments from all PHON accounts - including the Ltd and trust account have only ever borne Ettridge's signature. Scan of the PHON cheque at this link. Heather Hill, while on the national executive, was not allowed access to the records of this account.
I never banked the cheque because I was informed by David Ettridge that the party was "short of funds" in June 1997.... yes I feel dudded now. The cheque was a refund for courier fees for documents sent to Ettridge in Manly by me at his request - Interactive Presentations was volunteering its services free of charge to the party at this time.
It was nearly a week ago now that I got an intimidatory letter from Watkins, Stokes and Templeton on behalf of David Ettridge threatening to lodge a defamation case against me in the Supreme Court.
Since then I have heard nothing - despite refusing to abide by the "conditions" sought by One Nation Ltd's national director.
It is quite apparent that press releases and letters emanating out of Manly are highly slanted, deceptive and prepared with the primary intent of misleading the party's membership while hiding behind the skirt of Pauline Hanson.
The press release sent by Ettridge to the media - which was ignored - reflects this slanted approach. I have transcribed the lengthy letter and the introductory Hanson comments covering Ettridge's letter.
You will note that Ettridge manages to label both Feldman and Hill liars while completely skirting around the real issues that are the focus of the new party.
Ettridge's simplistic approach to propaganda is as follows:
