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'It's a joke,' One Nation founder shouts as she and a colleague are found guilty

Pauline Hanson, the controversial politician who once led Australia's One Nation party, was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday  after being found guilty of electoral fraud.

One Nation's co-founder, David Ettridge, was also given a three-year jail term after being found guilty of the same charge.

As the verdicts were announced in Brisbane's District Court, Hanson shouted: 'Rubbish, I'm not guilty ... it's a joke.'

After hugging family and friends, the former fish-and-chip shop owner was led away in tears by court officials. Ettridge, 58, who worked as One Nation's financial director, told the court: 'I still maintain my innocence.'

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Hanson had sought protective custody, citing government sources.

The pair had pleaded not guilty to fraudulently registering One Nation, which they founded in Queensland in 1997. Hanson, 49, had also denied dishonestly obtaining almost A$500,000 (HK$2.55 million) in electoral reimbursements after a state election in Queensland in 1998 in which One Nation won a million votes - almost 25 per cent of the total.

But the District Court's 12 jurors found the pair guilty on all charges.

The sentence sounded the death knell for Hanson's political ambitions, which were  founded on opposition to Asian immigrants and welfare for Aborigines.

A divorcee with four children, she resurrected the ghost of the long-abandoned White Australia policy, which was established in 1901 to ensure the country remained a nation of white, largely Anglo-Saxon Europeans.

During the  trial, prosecutors accused the pair of passing off a list of 500 supporters as genuine, paid-up members of One Nation so they could register the party and apply for electoral reimbursements.

Prosecutor Brendan Campbell told the court that  Hanson and Ettridge's deception had 'undermined the political process'.

Hanson first attracted attention in 1996 when the conservative Liberal Party of Prime Minister John Howard dropped her as a candidate for a federal seat because of her extremist views.

But she subsequently won a seat as an independent MP, warning in her maiden speech that Australian was in danger of being 'swamped' by Asian immigrants.

Since losing her seat in 1998, Hanson has been in the political wilderness, failing in her efforts to be re-elected to the federal parliament and to the state legislature of New South Wales.

Last year she resigned from One Nation amid bitter infighting.

The state premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, warned that imprisoning Hanson might turn her into a martyr to One Nation supporters. But he insisted the case had been conducted 'in accordance with the law'.



Pauline Hanson jailed three years for election fraud