David William Ettridge (born 8 June 1945) in Adelaide, Australia, is an Australian businessman who co-founded Pauline Hanson's One Nation in 1997 with Pauline Hanson and David Oldfield.
Ettridge was One Nation's professional fundraiser and administered and marketed the One Nation party. Leading a small team he helped to set up 350 branches throughout Australia and admitted 18,000 members to the party.[1]
On 20 August 2003, a jury from the District Court of Queensland convicted Hanson and Ettridge of electoral fraud and the Chief Judge sentenced both to three years without parole for fraudulently registering the One Nation Party. Prosecutors had alleged that the use of a list of 500 paid-up members of a One Nation supporters group as members for the purpose of registering the party had been fraudulent.[2] However, on 6 November 2003, the Queensland Court of Appeal quashed both convictions and Ettridge and Hanson were released from jail.[3] In 2004, Ettridge published a book regarding the fraud conviction and acquittal.[1][4]
Following an extensive Queensland Fraud Squad investigation, the Queensland Police advised the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions that no offence had been committed. Political pressure overwhelmed people strategically appointed to high Public Office by the Queensland Government for just these occasions and the Governments political enemies were charged. Ettridge and Hanson were both charged for what was not even an offence under the Queensland Electoral Act. Politically appointed persons in the Judicial system advanced the corrupt miscarriage of Justice and ignored Ettridge's defence submissions - the very submissions that were ultimately accepted by the Court of Appeal and which led to their convictions being overturned and quashed. Other Government appointees presided over a whitewashing of the events and no genuine independent investigation was ever undertaken to bring the perpetrators to justice.