On Bernie Finn

03 June 2022

Bernie Finn is not a figure I would naturally warm to. He has a rambunctious, contrarian persona that grates. A few months ago, if you had said to me that he would be expelled from the Victorian Liberal Party, I would have imagined it would be for some position or action I find egregious. Instead, he has been expelled for a position I essentially share.

Bernie Finn, the now independent member of the Victorian Parliament’s Upper House, is not always prudent in his public speech. His expulsion from the Liberal Party was framed as a response to ill-discipline.

Finn shared social media posts in response to the leaked draft decision of the US Supreme Court in relation to overturning the legal underpinnings of abortion in that country expressed in the Court’s decision in Roe V Wade. The key contravening post on social media was this: ‘So excited the US is on the verge of a major breakthrough to civilisation. Praying it will come here soon. Killing babies is criminal.’

In response to a comment that abortion should be available to women who have experienced sexual assault, Finn went on to write: ‘Babies should not be killed for the crime of his or her parent.’

The expression is blunt, and not the way I would recommend engaging in such a sensitive matter. Such expression obscures the sense of the dignity of the human person that gives in many to a view that abortion is wrong, or at least tragic. The comments are consistent, however, with the positions of most major religious traditions and in some non-religious ethical systems too.

On a plain reading the words do not incite violence or promote hate. The second comment might well be considered distasteful, in that its priority is not sensitivity to victims of sexual violence. But for those who believe that the dignity of persons extends to the unborn, equal concern is due to that life.

'In the wake of his expulsion from the Victorian Liberal Party, one wonders if it’s possible to have any meaningful discussion on important questions about the nature and value of human life in public conversation in this country?'

A Victorian Liberal frontbencher, James Newbury, called the views ‘deeply disturbing and dangerous’, on Twitter, saying, ‘Finn’s cheering is sick.’ Liberal leader, Matthew Guy, described them as ‘awful’. I’m not sure how the views expressed are disturbing, dangerous, or sick. They may be disagreed with and opposed

AUSTRALIA

On Bernie Finn

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