List of Australian politicians convicted of crimes

A list of Australian politicians who have been convicted of crimes.

Federal

Name	Year	Party	Offence	Sentence	Notes	Reference
John Curtin	1914	Labor	failing to comply with a compulsory medical examination for conscription	3 days jail	later became Prime Minister of Australia; first Prime Minister to be convicted of an offence	[1]
Michael Cobb	1998	National	rorting travel expenses.	fined $14,000, 2-year suspended jail term		[2]
Pauline Hanson	2003	Pauline Hanson's One Nation	electoral fraud	3 years jail	subsequently acquitted and found to have been jailed wrongly.	[3]
Andrew Theophanous	2002	Labor	bribery and fraud	6 years jail		[4]
Craig Thomson	2014	Labor/ Independent	theft and fraud	12 months jail with 9 months suspended.[5]		[6]
Steve Irons	2015	Liberal	unlicensed drink driving	4-month good behaviour order		[7]
Derryn Hinch	1987, 2011, 2014	Derryn Hinch's Justice Party	Contempt of court, breaching suppression orders	12 days in prison, 5 months home detention, 50 days in prison	Hinch was a radio announcer at the times of his crimes, and was elected to the Australian Senate in 2016	[8][9]

New South Wales

Name	Year	Party	Offence	Sentence	Notes	Reference
Thomas Ley	1947	Nationalist	murder	death, later commuted to confinement in Broadmoor Asylum	suspected of involvement with a number of disappearances, including that of Frederick McDonald, his predecessor as MP	[10]
Rex Jackson	1987	Labor	accepting bribes	10 years	former Minister for Corrective Services; increased from 7½ years on appeal	[11]
Tony Packard	1993	Liberal	unlawful use of listening devices	convicted, fined $1000		[12][13]
Barry Morris	1996	Liberal	making death threats	1 year	decreased from 2½ years on appeal	[14]
Milton Orkopoulos	2008	Labor	33 counts, including child sex and drug offences	13 years and 8 months (non-parole period 9 years)	appealed March 2009	[15]
Richard Face	2009	Labor	Making a false statement to the ICAC	fined $2500, three-year good-behaviour bond		[16][17]
Adam Marshall	2014	National	Mid-range prescribed content of alcohol	Driver's licence suspended for nine months, fined $2,000	Returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.112. Court heard plea in mitigation that MP's actions did not amount to wilful disobedience.	[18][19]
Edward Moses Obeid	2016	Australian Labor Party	Misused parliamentary position for financial gain	Awaiting sentencing (as at 29 June 2016).	Multiple charges of misuse of parliamentary position for financial gain, including in relation to cafe leases at Circular Quay and to water licences for a farm in Bylong.	[20]	[21] [22]

Queensland

Name	Year	Party	Offence	Sentence	Notes	Reference
Brian Austin	1990	National	misappropriating public funds	15 months		[23]
Leisha Harvey	1990	National	misappropriating public funds	12 months	7 months served in home detention	[23]
Don Lane	1990	National	misappropriating public funds	12 months		[23]
Geoff Muntz	1990	National	misappropriating public funds	12 months		[23]
Keith Wright	1993	Labor	child sex offences	8 years (non-parole period 4 years), paroled after 5½ years	Former Opposition Leader	[24]
Bill D'Arcy	2000	Labor	child sex offences	11 years (non-parole period 7 years)		[25]
Merri Rose	2005	Labor	extortion	1½ years		[24]
Gordon Nuttall	2009, 2011	Labor	Corruption, receiving secret commissions, theft	15 years (non-parole period 10 years)		[26]
Karen Struthers	2007	Labor	Drink driving	$1000 fine and loss of licence for 10 months		[27]

Tasmania

Name	Year	Party	Offence	Sentence	Notes	Reference
Brenton Best	2002	Labor	Drink driving	fine and loss of licence		[28][29]
Terry Martin	2011	Independent	Producing child pornography and sexual penetration of a child under the age of 17	suspended sentence		[30]

South Australia

Name	Year	Party	Offence	Sentence	Notes	Reference
Bernard Finnigan	2015	Labor/ Independent	Obtaining access to child pornography	Awaiting sentencing. 30 November 2015		[31][32]

Victoria

Name	Year	Party	Offence	Sentence	Notes	Reference
Carolyn Hirsh	2004	Labor	Drink driving	$600 and driving ban of 6 months		[33]
Andrew Olexander	2004	Liberal	Drink driving			[33]
Carolyn Hirsh	2006	Labor	Drink driving and driving whilst disqualified	$600 and driving ban of 1 year		[34]
Adem Somyurek	2009	Labor	Driving whilst disqualified	$300 and 1-month suspended gaol sentence		[35]

Western Australia

Name	Year	Party	Offence	Sentence	Notes	Ref
George Taylor	1891	Labor	conspiracy in connection with the Queensland shearers' strike	3 years	future state MP	[36]
Frederick Baglin	1923	Labor	stealing as a servant	3 years	sitting state MP	[37]
Brian Burke	1994	Labor	misappropriating public funds	7 months	former state Premier	[38]
Ray O'Connor	1995	Liberal	stealing a Bond Corporation cheque from a parked car	18 months	former state Premier	[39][40]
David Parker	1996	Labor	perjury	18 months	former state Deputy Premier, paroled after six months	[41]
Wayde Smith	1998	Liberal	perjury	18 months	paroled after six months	[42][43]
Graham Burkett	2006	Labor	receiving bribes	14 months	former mayor of Stirling and state MP	[44]

See also

• List of Australian political controversies

References

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