Bernard Finnigan

Bernard Vincent Finnigan (born 8 December 1972) is an Australian former politician who served as a member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 2006 until 2015. He was appointed in May 2006 as a member of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party to the Legislative Council in a casual vacancy triggered by the death of Terry Roberts. Elected at the 2010 election, Finnigan briefly served in the Rann government cabinet from February until April in 2011, when Labor suspended him from the party, sitting thereafter as an independent backbencher until his 2015 parliamentary resignation. He was the Acting Police Minister at the time of his arrest.

Labor suspended Finnigan from the party pending the verdict of a criminal trial after he was charged with child pornography offences in 2011, totalling 30 various charges over time. Only two charges ended up proceeding to trial – on 10 November 2015, Finnigan was found not guilty of one count for attempting to access child pornography, however he was found guilty of one count of accessing child pornography. Finnigan announced his immediate parliamentary resignation on 12 November. On 9 December following sentencing submissions, Finnigan had a conviction recorded, was added to the sex offenders register, and was given a 15-month suspended sentence with a three-year $1,000 good behaviour bond.

Peter Malinauskas filled the upper house casual vacancy in a joint sitting of the Parliament of South Australia on 1 December.

Early life One of twelve children, Finnigan was born in 1972 in Mount Gambier, South Australia and grew up in nearby Eight Mile Creek on the family's dairy farm. He attended Allendale East Area School and Tenison Woods College in Mount Gambier before attending the University of Adelaide. In 1993 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. While still at university he joined the Australian Labor Party. On 29 June 2012, Finnigan was charged with 14 additional counts of obtaining access to child pornography, seven of them aggravated to be heard in the District Court of South Australia before a jury.

On 24 September 2012, Finnigan was committed to stand trial on five aggravated counts of taking steps to obtain child pornography and one aggravated count of obtaining child pornography, at which point the statutory suppression on naming the accused within South Australia expired. Eight other charges were dropped. In June 2013 prosecutors refiled previously dismissed charges against Finnigan.

Outcome Though a total of 30 various charges were investigated over time, only two charges ended up proceeding to trial. On 10 November 2015, Finnigan was found not guilty of one count of attempting to access child pornography, however he was found guilty of one count of accessing child pornography. Finnigan announced his immediate parliamentary resignation on 12 November, During sentencing submissions, Finnigan's lawyer urged the court not to record a conviction and argued that Finnigan was being vilified, abused, and threatened with violence and death on a daily basis, and lived in constant fear of retaliation up to and including vigilante acts, and was concerned about a future inability to be an employed functioning member of society. It was also argued that the offence was "at the lowest end of the scale".