David Ernest Oldfield (born 25 June 1958) is an Australian former politician who co-founded and was national director of the Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.
Oldfield was initially involved in politics as a member of Manly Council, a Liberal candidate for Manly and a political advisor to then–Liberal Party minister (and future Prime Minister of Australia), Tony Abbott. He later became acquainted with parliamentary newcomer Pauline Hanson, who in the wake of her election to the Australian House of Representatives gained notoriety for comments about Indigenous Australians, Asians, immigration and multiculturalism. While working for Abbott, Oldfield began to construct Pauline Hanson's One Nation. One Nation was formed in 1997, and Oldfield was appointed an informal deputy leader, serving with David Ettridge.
The structural basis of One Nation was orchestrated solely by Ettridge and Oldfield, who acted as the policy masterminds behind Pauline Hanson's image and political style. However, in 2000 Oldfield was expelled from One Nation after a dispute with Hanson and formed the splinter group One Nation NSW, serving as its leader from its creation in 2000, to its dissolution in 2004.
Oldfield was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1999 to 2007, under One Nation, One Nation NSW and briefly as an independent twice. In 2006, Oldfield announced that he would not recontest the 2007 New South Wales election.
He formerly hosted radio programs on radio 2UE and radio 2GB.
On 19 February 2018, David and wife Lisa joined the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here.
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Early life and education
David Oldfield is the 4th and youngest child of June Emma (c. 1930–present) and Ernest Radcliffe "Bill" Oldfield (1918–2008). His uncle, Edward Peate "Ted" Oldfield was a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1951 to 1965, representing Maylands between 1951 and 1956, Mount Lawley between 1956 and 1962, and Maylands again from 1962 to 1965. He first represented Maylands as a Liberal, before contesting Mount Lawley as an Independent, and returning to Maylands under Labor. His paternal grandparents, Lena Eva (née Peate) was a housewife, and Ernest Henry was a Commercial traveller.
Oldfield was born and raised in Manly, a beachside suburb of Sydney. His mother was a small business proprietor during Oldfield's childhood. His father, Ernest Oldfield, enlisted to serve in World War II. He joined the Australian Army in 1939 and was transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940. He was assigned to the No. 2 Squadron and achieved the rank of Flight lieutenant before becoming a prisoner of war when the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber carrying his crew crash landed due to engine complications, 20 yards off the coast of Sumba Island, Indonesia, where they were captured by Japanese forces on 27 April 1945. The crew was rescued and returned to Australia in 1946, and Ernest Oldfield was promoted to flight sergeant and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Medal for courage... In later years, Ernest Oldfield became the CEO of Samuel Taylor Pty Ltd, a pioneering company of the household goods industry in Australia (known for their creation of cleaning products such as Mr Sheen and Mortein).
Business career, 1984–1993
After graduating from Balgowah, Oldfield founded Fathom Dive Pty Ltd in 1984, a Sporting goods retailer specializing in water sports, based in Farlight near Manly Beach. Fathom was also a diving academy and operated recreational underwater diving expeditions, exploring underwater off the coast of New South Wales.
On 8 January 1988, a drowning occurred on the boat and the equipment hired from Fathom to explore of the wreck of the S.S. Annie M. Miller, near the Sydney South Head. His clients Dr. Andy Newman-Maurice and Richard Evans, who were holidaying in Sydney from Melbourne. Evans died during the exploration, and the Coroner's inquest found that it was an "accidental death by drowning". In September 1993, A court case was brought against Fathom by Evan's family in the Victorian Supreme Court. Oldfield represented himself, and after 11 days the jury was discharged by consent.
Political career, 1990–2007
Entry into politics (1990–1996)
By 1990, Oldfield was a member of the Liberal Party. He was elected an Alderman of the Manly Municipal Council in September 1991, and while his activity while on the Council remains largely unpublished and unknown, he was a known member of the Environmental Works Community Audit Committee (1993–1995) and the Fisher Road Special School Committee (1994–1996). When Pauline Hanson's One 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.
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. 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.
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.
Member of the Legislative Council (1999–2007)
Oldfield took office in the Legislative Council after the state election. He worked most notably on the General Purpose Standing Committee No. 4 (2003–2007). His maiden speech outlined the future course of action that One Nation would take, and spoke of invigorating the Australian community to support this.
In 2003 and 2006, Oldfield moved a bill for a Referendum on Death Penalty.
The popularity of One Nation began to decline after the 1998 federal election, in which Pauline Hanson lost her seat and only one senator was elected. An electoral redistribution essentially split Oxley (Hanson's constituency) in half. Oxley was reconfigured as a marginal Labor seat, while a new seat of Blair was created in the rural area surrounding Ipswich. Hanson knew her chances of holding the reconfigured Oxley were slim, especially after former Labor state premier Wayne Goss won preselection for the seat.
Hanson launched her 1998 election campaign with a focus on jobs, rather than a focus on race/ethnicity or on "the people" against "the elites". Instead, Hanson focused on unemployment and the need to create more jobs not through government schemes but by "cheap loans to business, by more apprenticeships, and by doing something about tariffs". She opted to contest Blair, where most of her support was now located. On paper, Blair was a very safe Liberal seat with a notional majority of 18.7 percent. Hanson won 36 percent of the primary vote, slightly over 10% more than her nearest rival. However, preferences were enough to elect the Liberal candidate, Cameron Thompson, who had been third in the primary vote. Because all three major parties directed their preferences to each other ahead of Hanson, Thompson overtook the Labor candidate on National preferences and defeated Hanson on Labor preferences.
At the 2000 One Nation New South Wales State Conference, Hanson accused Oldfield of abusing his authority, usurping power and setting up alternative political parties under his control. His expulsion created even more instability in a party which was constantly embroiled in scandal and internal strife and the party saw a split in its New South Wales division, as well as earlier in Queensland and later in Western Australia.
Media career, 2007–2018
In 2006, he was a contestant on Australia's Celebrity Survivor. His performance as a player on the show, he was the 4th best Australian Survivor player among first four editions of the show by The OZ Network.
Oldfield commenced as a talkback radio host with Sydney radio station 2GB in November 2007. In 2009, Oldfield became the highest rating radio presenter in Sydney with 25.2% of the overnight audience. In 2010, Oldfield was fired by 2GB.
In May 2010, he began hosting the afternoon shift as a relief presenter on 2UE. After three days, Oldfield was suspended by the station for making inflammatory remarks with respect to asylum seekers. In his on-air comments, Oldfield suggested an immigration policy whereby:
"We'll turn on the electric fences, we'll stop them from coming, and the ones that are here: we'll make sure they can't escape, and if they do try it, they'll be fried."
In December 2010, Oldfield replaced Steve Liebmann as the host of the Mornings program on 2UE.
In April 2012, Oldfield moved from the Mornings program to present Nights on 2UE.
In November 2016, Oldfield appeared on the SBS television program First Contact, a series that takes a group of Australians who have had limited contact with indigenous people and brings them into contact with them. In the first episode he stated that Aboriginal culture "should have died out, like the Stone Age died out". He also expressed the view that the Australian constitution is not racist for omitting mention of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. He also was seen making an emotional connection with an indigenous man over something they had in common; the death of their fathers.
In 2017, Oldfield appeared as a celebrity contestant on the Australian version of Hell's Kitchen.
Personal life
Oldfield was married to Lisa Oldfield, who was 16 years his junior. She was a former co-host of Channel 9's daytime television program, The Catch-Up, and a castmate on The Real Housewives of Sydney. In 2010 the couple had their first child, and a second in 2012. The couple split in 2019.
In the documentary Pauline Hanson: Please Explain!, Oldfield describes himself as "not a fan of multiculturalism".
Oldfield's ex-wife Lisa describes herself as a 21% Native American in ancestry.