# List of Australian politicians convicted of crimes

The following is a list of Australian politicians convicted of crimes.

## Federal

| Name | Year | Party | Offence | Timing of conviction | Sentence |
| William Henry Groom | 1846 | Protectionist | Stealing | Before office | Transportation to Australia |
| Charles Kingston | 1892 | Protectionist | Duelling | Before office | Good behaviour bond |
| John Curtin | 1914 | Labor | Failing to comply with a compulsory medical examination for conscription | Before office | 3 days' jail |
| Donald Grant | 1916 | Labor | Conspiracy to commit arson, perverting the course of justice, incitement to commit sedition | Before office | 15 years' jail |
| Benjamin Benny | 1926 | Nationalist | Fraudulent conversion of trust funds | After office | 3 years' jail |
| George Rankin | 1938 | Country | Drink driving | During office | Fined £25 |
| Thomas Ley | 1947 | Nationalist | Murder | After office | Death, later commuted to confinement in Broadmoor Asylum |
| Jock Garden | 1948 | Labor | Forgery | After office | 3 years' jail |
| Wilson Tuckey | 1967 | Liberal | Assault | Before office | Fined $50 |
| Derryn Hinch | 1987, 2011, 2014 | Justice | Contempt of court, breaching suppression orders | Before office | 12 days in prison, 5 months' home detention, 50 days in prison |
| Colin Hollis | 1990 | Labor | Indecent exposure | During office | Good behaviour bond |
| Frank Ford | 1996 | Liberal | Fraud | After office | |
| Michael Cobb | 1998 | National | Rorting travel expenses | During office | Fined $14,000; 2 year suspended jail term |
| Bob Woods | 1999 | Liberal | Rorting travel expenses | After office | 18 month suspended jail sentence |
| Andrew Theophanous | 2002 | Labor | Bribery and fraud | After office | 6 years' jail |
| Craig Thomson | 2014 | Labor Independent | Theft | After office | $25,000 fine |
| Steve Irons | 2015 | Liberal | Unlicensed drink driving | During office | 4 month good behaviour order |

## New South Wales

| Name | Year | Party | Offence | Sentence | Notes |
| Peter Howe | 1891 | Protectionist | Conspiracy to defraud the Australian Mercantile Loan and Guarantee Company | Imprisoned for 7 years, released after 3 years and 7 months. | One of a series of prosecutions in relation to bank failures. Resigned from the Legislative Assembly after conviction |
| Frank Smith | 1892 | Free Trade | conspiracy to fraudulently misrepresent the financial affairs of the Australian Mercantile Loan and Guarantee Company | Imprisoned for 7 years, released after 3 years. | One of a series of prosecutions in relation to bank failures, had been defeated in 1891. |
| Francis Abigail | 1892 | Free Trade | Conspiracy to issue a false balance-sheet | Imprisoned for 5 years, released after 2 years and 6 months. | One of a series of prosecutions in relation to bank failures, had been defeated in 1891. |
| Thomas Slattery | 1905 | Protectionist | Stealing £6,958 | Imprisoned for 3 years and 6 months, set aside by High Court | Seat in Legislative Council declared vacant after conviction but before the successful appeal to the High Court. |
| Alan Millard | 1906 | Liberal Reform | Misappropriation of £5 of a client's money | 6 months, suspended on 12 month good behaviour bond | Seat in Legislative Assembly was declared vacant |
| Theodore Trautwein | 1940 | Independent | False representation to avoid bankruptcy | Imprisoned for 12 months | Seat in Legislative Council declared vacant by the Court of Disputed Returns. Subsequently imprisoned for contempt of court. |
| Thomas Ley (also served in Federal Parliament) | 1947 | Nationalist | Murder | Death, later commuted to confinement in Broadmoor Asylum | Involvement with a number of disappearances, including that of Frederick McDonald, his predecessor as MP |
| Rex Jackson | 1987 | Labor | Accepting bribes | 10 years | Former Minister for Corrective Services. Increased from 7½ years on appeal |
| Tony Packard | 1993 | Liberal | Unlawful use of listening devices | Fined $1000 | Offences were committed while operating a used-car business, prior to entering parliament |
| Barry Morris | 1996 | Liberal | Making death threats | 1 year | Decreased from 2½ years on appeal |
| Phuong Ngo | 2001 | Independent Labor | Murder | Life imprisonment | Convicted of ordering the killing of Australian MP John Newman on 5 September 1994, a crime which has been described as Australia's first political assassination. |
| Milton Orkopoulos | 2008 | Labor | 33 counts, including child sex and drug offences | 13 years and 8 months (non-parole period 9 years) | Decreased from 13 years and 11 months on appeal |
| Richard Face | 2009 | Labor | Making a false statement to the ICAC | Fined $2,500, three-year good-behaviour bond | Lied about misusing parliamentary and electoral office staff to help set up a consultancy. |
| Karyn Paluzzano | 2012 | Labor | Falsely claiming parliamentary payments | Twelve months' home detention | |
| 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. |
| Eddie Obeid | 2016 | Labor | Misconduct in public office | 5 years (non-parole period of 3 years) | Failing to declare his precuniary interest while a member of parliament and subsequent attempts to influence bureaucrats and Labor colleagues so as to benefit his family |
| Ian Macdonald | 2017 | Labor | Wilful misconduct in public office | 10 years (non-parole period 7 years) set aside on appeal | Conviction set aside on appeal and re-trial ordered |
| Eddie Obeid | 2021 | Labor | Conspiracy to wilfully commit misconduct in public office | | Eddie Obeid, Moses Obeid and Ian Macdonald conspired for Macdonald to commit misconduct concerning the granting of a coal exploration licence involving the Mount Penny tenement |
| Ian Macdonald | 2021 | Labor | Conspiracy to wilfully commit misconduct in public office | | Eddie Obeid, Moses Obeid and Ian Macdonald conspired for Macdonald to commit misconduct concerning the granting of a coal exploration licence involving the Mount Penny tenement |

## Queensland

| Name | Year | Party | Offence | Sentence | Notes |
| William Hamilton | 1891 | Labor | conspiracy in connection with the Queensland shearers' strike | 3 years | future state MP |
| Brian Austin | 1990 | National | misappropriating public funds | 15 months | |
| Leisha Harvey | 1990 | National | misappropriating public funds | 12 months | 7 months served in home detention |
| Don Lane | 1990 | National | misappropriating public funds | 12 months | |
| Geoff Muntz | 1990 | National | misappropriating public funds | 12 months | |
| Keith Wright | 1993 | Labor | child sex offences | 8 years (non-parole period 4 years), paroled after 5½ years | Former Opposition Leader |
| Bill D'Arcy | 2000 | Labor | child sex offences | 11 years (non-parole period 7 years) | |
| John Budd | 2002 | Labor | fraud and misappropriation | 2½ years (suspended) | |
| Merri Rose | 2005 | Labor | extortion | 1½ years | |
| Karen Struthers | 2007 | Labor | Drink driving | $1,000 fine and loss of licence for 10 months | |
| Gordon Nuttall | 2009, 2011 | Labor | Corruption, receiving secret commissions, theft | 15 years (non-parole period 10 years) | |
| Scott Driscoll | 2013 | Liberal National | 42 counts of contempt of Parliament, four counts of failing to register interests and one count of misleading the House | fined $84,000 for contempt; fined $4,000 for failing to register interests; fined $2,000 for misleading the House; and the Legislative Assembly moved to expel Driscoll from the chamber and declare the seat of Redcliffe vacant "to protect the honour and dignity of the Legislative Authority". | |
| Paul Pisasale | 2019 | Labor Independent | 2 counts of extortion. In 2020 he pleaded guilty to 30 other charges including Fraud, Sexual Assault and Official Corruption | 7.5 years (non-parole period 3 years) | Former Mayor of Ipswich |

## Tasmania

| Name | Year | Party | Offence | Sentence |
| John McDonald | 1951 | Labor | Manslaughter | 10 years' jail |
| Brenton Best | 2002 | Labor | Drink driving | fine and loss of licence |
| Terry Martin | 2011 | Independent | Producing child pornography and sexual penetration of a child under the age of 17 | suspended sentence |

## South Australia

| Name | Year | Party | Offence | Sentence | Notes |
| John Richards | 1882 | | Twice convicted of cheque fraud | Imprisonment for 1 months and imprisonment for 3 months | |
| Beasley Kearney | 1933 | Labor | Fraud | Imprisonment for 3 years | |
| Tammy Franks | 2012 | Greens South Australia | Tax Fraud (10 charges of failing to lodge tax returns) | Fined $6600 and ordered her to pay $7,500 court costs | |
| Bernard Finnigan | 2015 | Labor Independent | Obtaining access to child pornography | A 15-month suspended sentence with a three-year $1,000 good behaviour bond | Also added to the sex offender register |

## Victoria

| Name | Year | Party | Offence | Sentence |
| Carolyn Hirsh | 2004 | Labor | Drink driving | $600 fine and driving ban of 6 months |
| Andrew Olexander | 2004 | Liberal | Drink driving | $500 fine and loss of licence for 12 months |
| Carolyn Hirsh | 2006 | Labor | Drink driving and driving while disqualified | $600 fine and driving ban of 1 year |
| Adem Somyurek | 2009 | Labor | Driving while disqualified | One-month suspended jail sentence and $300 fine |
| Tim Smith | 2021 | Liberal | Drink driving | $750 fine and 1 year license suspension |
| Russell Northe | 2023 | National | Misconduct in public office | 21-month jail sentence |

## Western Australia

| Name | Year | Party | Offence | Sentence | Notes |
| Julian Stuart | 1891 | Labor | conspiracy in connection with the Queensland shearers' strike | 3 years | future state MP |
| George Taylor | 1891 | Labor | conspiracy in connection with the Queensland shearers' strike | 3 years | future state MP |
| John Marquis Hopkins | 1910 | Ministerial | Forging and uttering a promissory note | 5 years | sitting state MP |
| Frederick Baglin | 1923 | Labor | stealing as a servant | 3 years | sitting state MP |
| Bill Grayden | 1978 | Liberal | assault and wilful damage | | sitting state MP |
| Brian Burke | 1994 | Labor | fraud | two years | former state premier, guilty of four counts of defrauding the state by making false claims on the parliamentary imprest account, paroled after seven months |
| Ray O'Connor | 1995 | Liberal | stealing a Bond Corporation cheque | 18 months | former state premier, paroled after six months |
| David Parker | 1996 | Labor | perjury | 18 months | former state deputy premier, paroled after six months |
| Brian Burke | 1997 | Labor | stealing $122,585 in campaign donations from the Labor Party | 3 years | former state premier, conviction quashed after six months in jail |
| Wayde Smith | 1998 | Liberal | perjury | 18 months | paroled after six months |
| Graham Burkett | 2006 | Labor | receiving bribes | 14 months | former mayor of Stirling and state MP |
| Ben Dawkins | 2023 | Labor | Breaching a violence restraining order | Yet to be sentenced | sitting state MP, expelled from the Labor Party |
| James Hayward | 2023 | National Party | charged with child sex offences. | Yet to be sentenced | sitting state MP, |