However, he continues to deny that there was any 'romance'. After the affair, Oldfield publicly resigned from Tony Abbott's staff. John Pasquarelli, Hanson's Chief of Staff and Principal Adviser since March 1996, was fired, and Oldfield took his position. Oldfield had previously been in contact with David Ettridge, a professional fundraiser from Adelaide, discussing the prospect of establishing a political party. In February 1997, in a meeting at a Sydney hotel, Oldfield, Ettridge, and Hanson came to the agreement that a political party would be formed. The name 'One Nation' was chosen to signify their aim of national unity in Australia, reflecting Hanson's view that the country was becoming increasingly divided by government policies which supposedly favoured migrants and Aboriginal Australians. The term had previously been used for an economic program created by Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating in 1992. The policies strengthening relations with Asia, the Free Market, and social welfare were the opposite of that of Pauline Hanson's One Nation. Early electoral success On 11 April 1997, Pauline Hanson's One Nation was launched in Ipswich, Queensland, in the George Hogg Auditorium of the Ipswich Civic Centre, filled to capacity with over 400 party faithful. The launch was also attended by supporters of the Australian Democrats, Labor and the Coalition, and was notably attended by Paul Filing, the Independent Member for Moore, Western Australia, who considered joining the party. Several executive members, including Oldfield, Ettridge, and Hanson received a police escort into the venue, due to the demonstration of over 200 protesters, led by Ipswich City Councillor Paul Tully. Most protesters were involved in left-wing student politics at Griffith University. In her speech, Hanson spoke out against the racial discrimination policy in Australia, religious monasticism, and addressed the danger of a civil war in Australia, fabricated through racial division and inequality. By October 1997, an A C Nielsen-McNair poll showed that 27% of Queensland voters would vote for One Nation, and a national poll showed that the party could win up to 12 Senate seats. Both Oldfield and Ettridge went to extreme lengths to secure the party's survival, forcing members to prematurely sign resignation forms, disendorsing anyone who refused to do so, as well as disendorsing members who disagreed with the party constitution. Due to this behaviour, perceived as almost authoritarian, the Australian public came to view Hanson as a puppet, and that Oldfield and Ettridge held the true