Nation was founded, Oldfield became the first representative of the party on a Local government level. He remained an Alderman of the Council until 1998 when he resigned to stand for the Australian Senate. In April 1994, Oldfield was assigned to the parliamentary staff of Tony Abbott, who was appointed Parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Education (later becoming a senior Minister in the Howard Government, and also Prime Minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015). Abbott had been elected at a March by-election that same year for the Division of Warringah, based in Manly. Abbott had approached Oldfield by phone to discuss his preselection for the seat and asked for Oldfield's influence in the Manly area to help Abbott secure this position. He later visited Oldfield's office to discuss further matters, which was likely to have involved Oldfield's position on Abbott's staff. When Abbott won the seat, he made Oldfield his principal advisor, which built Oldfield's influence in the Liberal Party. In late 1994, Oldfield won the Liberal preselection for the Electoral district of Manly. At the 1995 state election, Oldfield fell 243 votes short of winning the seat from Independent Peter Macdonald. Despite the marginal number of votes required to win the seat, only a nominal swing of 0.3 was achieved. Oldfield received 16,433 votes (49.6%) in the Two-party-preferred result, while Macdonald received 16,676 votes (50.4%) in the Two-party-preferred result. Oldfield did not contest the next preselection battle for the seat. Rise to power (1996–1999) Pauline Hanson was endorsed in November 1995 as the Liberal candidate for the Division of Oxley. She was elected to Parliament at the 1996 federal election as an Independent. Her maiden speech, outlining her right-wing views on race, her appeal to economically disadvantaged White Australians and her dissatisfaction with government policy on indigenous affairs had caught the attention of Oldfield. Founding of One Nation In September 1996, on the night of Hanson's maiden speech, Oldfield contacted Hanson to arrange a meeting at a Canberra tavern where they discussed how the growing support for Hanson would be handled. Oldfield, at this point, was still working for Tony Abbott. They continued their meetings, privately, for a number of weeks, which continued to an encounter in December 1996 at a Canberra motel, where they had sex. Oldfield had previously denied that he had engaged in sexual activities with Hanson until he conceded after a lie-detector test.