> [wow, there hasn't been any coverage of this in the U.S. that I know
> of - so what's it mean, Australians?]
>
> The Age (Melbourne) - August 21, 2003
>
> Hanson behind bars
> By Geoff Strong
It would be a bit like Pat Buchanan or David Duke being jailed for a misdemeanour by a republican-appointed judge.
Hanson and her One Nation cronies have faced various charges like this and they all go back a few years, to the time when the main right parties were seriously threatened in some of their rural and semi-urban heartlands, by the Hansonites. In the long period in which the cases have been awaiting court, One Nation has repeatedly splintered and self-destructed. As the article says, the peak of their success was 11 MPs elected to the Queensland state parliament in 1998 -- and only two of these MPs remain.
A three year sentence seems high for this kind of offence --- personally, I hope it is reduced or even suspended, to prevent martyrdom.