Australia: Pauline Hanson had no choice but to challenge election loss, a judge says | The Australian

Pauline Hanson had no option but to go to court to challenge the outcome of upper house voting in the NSW election after receiving information alleging a fraud had taken place, a judge has said.

In the NSW Supreme Court today, Justice Peter McClellan was deliberating on costs in the failed legal action taken by the former One Nation leader. Ms Hanson could face a huge legal bill if she incurs the costs racked up by the NSW Electoral Commission and two upper house MPs involved in the action.

Justice McClellan expressed the initial view that Ms Hanson had no other option than to present her evidence to the court after receiving an email alleging the fraud.

Australia: Taxpayers could wear Hanson court costs

Pauline Hanson is relieved that NSW taxpayers may be forced to pick up hefty legal costs stemming from her botched state election challenge. The former One Nation leader had faced the prospect of paying the likely hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees incurred by the parties called to answer her case. But the NSW…

Australia: Hanson fraudster admits deception | smh.com.au

The man who led Pauline Hanson to believe she was robbed of votes in the NSW upper house poll has admitted in court to forging an email that led her to challenge her March election loss.

In the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sydney teacher Sean Castle was granted protection from prosecution before being compelled to answer questions relating to a purported Electoral Commission email.

Ms Hanson has said she was told of an email exchange between NSW Electoral Commission staff that alleged 1200 votes in her favour in the March 26 poll were put in a pile of blank ballots by “dodgy staff”.

Australia: It wasn’t him, it was me, admits man behind Pauline Hanson email leak | thetelegraph.com.au

A married father of three has been outed as the man who used a fake identity to leak an email to Pauline Hanson alerting her to “dodgy” vote counting by NSW Electoral Commission staff.

In a bizarre twist to the former One Nation leader’s appeal against her loss in the March state election, the case was urgently resumed yesterday as former history teacher Sean Castle, from Glendenning, in Sydney’s west, came forward to admit he had been posing as a man called Michael Rattner all along.

Michael Rattner was nominated in court as the man who leaked an email to Ms Hanson mentioning “dodgy electoral staff” wrongly placing 1200 votes cast in her favour in a blank ballot pile. But he did not appear in court on Wednesday as required, leading Justice Peter McClellan to issue a warrant to bring him in to give evidence.

Australia: Star witness in Hanson case fronts court | ABC News

A Sydney teacher and father of three who allegedly led Pauline Hanson to believe her New South Wales election result had been sabotaged has appeared in court. Sean Castle appeared in the NSW Supreme Court and apologised for not showing up when required to on Wednesday.

“My name is Sean Castle. I have represented myself as being Michael Rattner,” he said. “Firstly, I sincerely apologise to the Supreme Court for my conduct in not attending the court on June 8. “I’ve given an undertaking today to the court that I will attend any further hearings as required by the court until excused by the court.”

Earlier this week, a warrant was issued for a man identified as Michael Rattner after he failed to appear to give evidence in the case.

Australia: Three characters in search of a Hanson recount may be one person | The Australian

It’s got all the makings of a great thriller: the politician locked in a desperate legal battle with a mystery builder, a fake journalist and a former history teacher with a hidden agenda.

But for Pauline Hanson, this story is not likely to end as she had hoped. And it seems certain that it will not end well for the man who has allegedly assumed three identities in his bid to prompt a recount of upper house votes from the NSW election.

Yesterday, Ms Hanson’s lawyers and Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham publicly aired their concern that key witness Michael Rattner, supposed journalist Michael Wilson and Hanson supporter Sean Castle — all of whom are central to the former One Nation leader’s push for a recount of votes from the March election — are the same person.