Bernie Finn

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For the football player, see Bernie Finn (American football).

Bernie Finn
MLC
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Tullamarine
In office
1992–1999
Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Western Metropolitan Region
Assumed office
25 November 2006
Personal details
Born
Bernard Thomas Christopher Finn

(1961-04-14) 14 April 1961 (age 60)
Colac, Victoria, Australia
Political partyLiberal Party
Occupation
  • Businessman
  • broadcaster
  • ministerial advisor
Websitewww.berniefinn.com Edit this at Wikidata

Bernard Thomas Christopher Finn (born 14 April 1961) is a member of the Victorian Legislative Council representing the Western Metropolitan Region since the election of November 2006.[1] He was previously the member for the electoral district of Tullamarine in the Victorian Legislative Assembly from October 1992 until September 1999.

Political career[]

Finn was originally a member of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). In 1980, aged 19, he was the DLP candidate for the federal seat of Corangamite.[2] Soon after, he left the DLP and joined the Liberal Party. In 1983 he was the Liberal candidate for the seat of Burke.[3]

Finn was the Member for the District of Tullamarine from 1992 until 1999 when he lost his seat in the Steve Bracks led victory over the Kennett Liberal Government.

Finn has been the number one candidate on the Liberal Party of Australia ticket in the Western Metropolitan Region since 2006. He was first elected to the Legislative Council in 2006 and re-elected in 2010, 2014 and 2018.[1] As of November 2018, Finn serves as Member for Western Metropolitan Region alongside Cesar Melhem, Kaushaliya Vaghela and Ingrid Stitt from the Labor Party and Catherine Cumming who sits as an independent.[4]

During the period of the Baillieu and Napthine governments, Finn served as Chairman of the Victorian Parliament's Electoral Matters Committee.[5]

Finn currently serves on the Coalition frontbench as the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for autism spectrum disorder, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Electoral Integrity and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Melbourne's West.[1]

In 2018 Finn was involved in a controversy where he returned to vote on a bill despite having been granted a ‘pair’ to be absent from voting due to religious observation.[6]

Political views[]

Finn has drawn controversy for his political views. He has criticised abortion and been rebuked for his remarks that rape victims should not be allowed an abortion; former Premier Denis Napthine, who like Finn voted against the 2008 abortion bill,[7] called Finn's views "inappropriate."[8][9] Finn is a strong opponent of same sex marriage, adoption,[10][11] and IVF. Finn suggested during the 2012 Australian Open that some gay activists had "embarked on a program of rainbow fascism."[12][13][14]

Finn was a critic of the federal government's carbon pricing scheme, stating in the Victorian Parliament in 2013 that "there has been no global warming for 17 years". He has attacked the climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth, as well as reports on the subject in the British newspaper The Guardian.[15] He has claimed that global warming is an invention of the "international left", suggesting that "it raised a few dollars and promoted its own political interests. It came up with a thing called global warming", which he labelled "nonsense". He went on to say that "we have to come to a conclusion that climate change is not so much a scientific thing as it is a political thing". Finn also told Parliament that "This is a con; the whole thing is a con. Today we are in the Parliament of Victoria wasting our time on something that is largely an invention of the left".[16]

Finn supports reintroducing capital punishment. In 2018, Finn said he believes "if two or three drug lords were executed, others would get the message. They should be disqualified from breathing the same oxygen that we do."[17]

In a June 2020 panel discussion on Sky News Australia, where Finn was critical of the behaviour of people in the US protesting following the murder of George Floyd, he called presidential candidate Joe Biden "a silly old duffer" and said "If Donald Trump does not prevail America is finished."[18] In January 2021, Finn was criticised for sharing conspiracy theories to his private Facebook page, falsely claiming Donald Trump was being "improperly" removed from office.[19] Finn also falsely suggested that Antifa were behind the storming of the US Capitol and repeated unsubstantiated claims of election fraud about the 2020 presidential election.[19][20]

In February 2021 Finn, addressing the Reignite Democracy Australia Facebook group, criticized the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures imposed by the Victorian government, saying that maybe they were about hardline socialists' dislike of small businesses.[21]

Personal life[]

Before entering Parliament, Finn was a small businessman, broadcaster and a media and ministerial adviser to Chris Pearce.[1] He is married with six children.[22]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Bernie Finn (Western Metropolitan)". Members Information. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  2. ^ Carr, Adam. "1980 Election". Psephos.
  3. ^ Carr, Adam. "1983 Election". Psephos.
  4. ^ "State Election 2014: Western Metropolitan Region results summary - Victorian Electoral Commission". vec.vic.gov.au.
  5. ^ http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/Media_Release_Final_EMC.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  6. ^ "Victorians 'betrayed' over Liberals pairing controversy, Acting Premier says". 2 April 2018.
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ Alison Savage (18 March 2014). "Victorian Liberal MP Bernie Finn says no abortions for rape victims". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  9. ^ Josh Gordon and Henrietta Cook (18 March 2014). "State MP Bernie Finn says there is no acceptable reason for abortion". The Age. Fairfax Media.
  10. ^ "Should gay couples be able to adopt?". 3AW Mornings. 27 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Liberal MP Bernie Finn has sparked fierce debate about same-sex couples adopting children after posting controversial anti gay-adoption comments on his Facebook page. Last week, state Labor voted in favour of changing the law, which could pave the way for homosexual couples to adopt if Daniel Andrews wins November's election. However, Mr Finn, MP for the Western Metropolitan Region, who is a Richmond supporter, said he'd join the Collingwood cheer squad before he'd ever support gay adoption, while in another post he asked for "proof" that having two mothers or two fathers wouldn't hurt children. Labor today lashed out at Mr Finn, saying the outspoken MP has offended hundreds of loving parents.
  11. ^ Benjamin Riley (29 May 2014). "Calls for Premier Napthine to condemn MP over same-sex adoption remarks". Star Observer.
  12. ^ Benge Nsenduluka (18 January 2012). "Teenage Tennis Star Denies Making Gay Protest at Australian Open". Christian Post. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  13. ^ Andie Noonan (16 January 2012). "Liberal MP hits out at 'rainbow fascists'". Star Observer.
  14. ^ Chip Le Grand (18 January 2012). "MP slams Open 'rainbow fascism' over Margaret Court". The Australian.
  15. ^ "PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD)" (PDF). PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA. 11 December 2013.
  16. ^ "Bernie Finn MP". berniefinn.com.[permanent dead link]
  17. ^ "Liberal MP's call to bring back death penalty for drug dealers".
  18. ^ "'America is finished if campaign to bring down Trump succeeds'". Sky News Australia. 5 June 2020.
  19. ^ a b "Victorian Liberal MP posts Trump conspiracy theories to Facebook". 7 January 2021.
  20. ^ Ilanbey, Sumeyya (8 January 2021). "Victorian Liberals confront Bernie Finn over pro-Trump social media posts". The Age. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  21. ^ Kristian Silva (18 February 2021). "Liberal MP Bernie Finn tells anti-lockdown protest Victorian restrictions were 'not about a virus'". ABC News.
  22. ^ "Bernard (Bernie) Finn". Parliament.vic.gov.au. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 3 September 2014.

External links[]

Victorian Legislative Assembly
District created Member for Tullamarine
1992–1999 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from ""