Fed: PM stands by his man

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Fed: PM stands by his man

By Sharon Mathieson

CANBERRA, Aug 26 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard tonight declared Workplace RelationsMinister Tony Abbott did nothing wrong in his role in bringing down Pauline Hanson's OneNation party.

But Mr Abbott admitted he had made flippant remarks to the media about the matter andapologised for his actions.

Mr Abbott officially told Mr Howard of his quest to undermine One Nation after the1998 federal election, which included setting up a slush fund to back Supreme Court action.

The court action succeeded in having the party deregistered, leading to Hanson andparty co-founder David Ettridge being sentenced to three years' jail last week for electoralfraud.

Mr Howard's office said the matter was in the public domain long before Mr Abbott formallyrevealed his role but the prime minister stood by his senior minister's actions.

"Mr Abbott did not seek the prime minister's approval for fund raising activities butMr Abbott did nothing wrong in pursuing legitimate questions about One Nation's registrationas a political party," a spokesman for Mr Howard said.

One Nation dissident Terry Sharples said he pushed ahead with legal action againstthe party only after Mr Abbott agreed to bankroll it.

He said he had planned to take the matter to the Magistrates Court but when Mr Abbottoffered $20,000 in funding, he went ahead with Supreme Court proceedings.

"Like any ordinary person, even though we knew things were wrong, we never had theresources or the knowledge or anything to enter a Supreme Court action," Mr Sharples toldABC radio.

"And it was only after Abbott offered the $20,000 into the trust account that I agreedto enter into the Supreme Court action and that's the truth."

Mr Abbott denied on ABC's Four Corners program in August 1998 he had bankrolled MrSharples' court action or that there was a slush fund.

But in an interview in the Sydney Morning Herald today he was quoted as saying he andtwo other trustees set up the Australians for Honest Politics trust fund.

Mr Abbott tonight said the answer he gave to Four Corners preceded the formation ofthe trust fund.

"Strictly speaking, no money at all had been offered," he said.

"The lawyers I organised were acting without charge and the support for costs whichI had promised would only become an issue in the event of a costs order being made againstSharples."

Mr Abbott said after Mr Sharples launched legal action against him claiming open-endeddamages arising from his promise that he would not be out of pocket, Mr Abbott's solicitoroffered to settle Mr Sharples' claim for $10,000.

"Sharples rejected this and I have never paid him any money," he said.

In a Sydney Morning Herald report in March 2000, Mr Abbott was asked about the contradictionsin relation to his comments on Four Corners.

He replied: "Misleading the ABC is not quite the same as misleading the parliamentas a political crime."

Mr Abbott tonight apologised for those comments.

"It's not acceptable to mislead the public," he said.

"I should not have responded flippantly to the SMH's question and am sorry that I did so."

Mr Sharples said he had received correspondence from Mr Howard saying the matter wasone between himself and Mr Abbott.

"John Howard, through his private secretary Tony Nutt, wrote to me and indicated thathe regarded this matter between Tony and myself as a private matter," he said.

"But by that stage everyone was running for cover."

Mr Abbott said he never sought the criminal prosecution of Hanson or Ettridge and hehad no contact with any witnesses in connection with the criminal case.

AAP sm/mo/de

KEYWORD: HANSON ABBOTT NIGHTLEAD