Bernie Finn

For the football player, see Bernie Finn (American football).
Bernie Finn
MLC
Member of the Victorian Legislative Council
Assumed office
25 November 2006
Personal details
Born (1961-04-14) 14 April 1961
Political party Liberal Party of Australia
Occupation Businessman, broadcaster, ministerial advisor
Religion Roman Catholic
Website www.berniefinn.com

Bernard (Bernie) 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 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 and 2014.[1] As of November 2014, Finn serves as Member for Western Metropolitan Region alongside Cesar Melhem and Khalil Eideh from the Australian Labor Party, Colleen Hartland from the Australian Greens and Rachel Carling-Jenkins from the DLP.[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]

Views

Finn has drawn controversy for his political views. He has criticised abortion and women's rights, 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[6] has called Finn's views "inappropriate."[7][8] Finn is a strong opponent of same sex marriage, adoption,[9][10] and IVF. Finn suggested during the 2012 Australian Open that some gay activists had "embarked on a program of rainbow fascism."[11][12][13]

Finn is a critic of carbon pricing, 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 and contemporary reports in the British newspaper The Guardian.[14]

Finn has also suggested that climate change 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" and stated 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"[15]

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.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "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
  6. ↑ http://www.prolife.org.au/election/
  7. ↑ Alison Savage (18 Mar 2014). "Victorian Liberal MP Bernie Finn says no abortions for rape victims". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  8. ↑ Josh Gordon and Henrietta Cook (18 March 2014). "State MP Bernie Finn says there is no acceptable reason for abortion". The Age. Fairfax Media.
  9. ↑ "Should gay couples be able to adopt?". 3AW Mornings. 27 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 Jul 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.
  10. ↑ Benjamin Riley (29 May 2014). "Calls for Premier Napthine to condemn MP over same-sex adoption remarks". Star Observer.
  11. ↑ Benge Nsenduluka (18 January 2012). "Teenage Tennis Star Denies Making Gay Protest at Australian Open". Christian Post.
  12. ↑ Andie Noonan (16 Jan 2012). "Liberal MP hits out at 'rainbow fascists'". Star Observer.
  13. ↑ Chip Le Grand (18 Jan 2012). "MP slams Open 'rainbow fascism' over Margaret Court". The Australian.
  14. ↑ "PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD)" (PDF). PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA. 11 December 2013.
  15. ↑ "Bernie Finn MP". berniefinn.com.
  16. ↑ "Bernard (Bernie) Finn". http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 3 September 2014. External link in |website= (help)

External links

Victorian Legislative Assembly
Preceded by
Seat created		 Member for Tullamarine
1992–1999 		Succeeded by
Liz Beattie
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