Wednesday, 28th August ....

Sometimes we have particularly interesting speakers at our Rotary meetings and last night's was certainly one of those. I happened to be Chairman so I had the benefit of sitting with her and introducing her. It was Diane Fingleton, a name that I remember from newspaper reports about 10 or 11 years ago.

It's an interesting story. She was a solicitor with Legal Aid in Brisbane and she was offered appointment as a magistrate. It was at the time when affirmative action was putting women in senior jobs but there was lot of resentment from the Establishment who saw their mates missing out. The problem was that she eventually became Chief Magistrate, appointed by Peter Beattie, an ALP Premier. Not good enough, old boy!

The man who thought he should have got the job, and his mates, made life very difficult for her. You know how it works: insolence, condescension, half-hearted support, etc. it came to a head when a couple of other magistrates tried to undermine her authority and she wrote one of them an email accusing him of disloyalty.

Next thing she finds herself charged with workplace bullying. The old boys ganged up on her and she found herself in court, found guilty and sentenced to 12 months gaol. On appeal, this was reduced to 6 months. The only concession made was that she was put in protective custody with child killers and others who might be vulnerable in an open prison.

She managed to get leave to apply to the High Court who voted 6:0 that it was the most serious miscarriage of justice which had ever been brought before them. It should never have got to court. Unbelievable!

I remember the newspaper reports at the time. She was portrayed as a labour lackey, promoted above her ability and a thug to boot. In reality, she had an excellent degree, was well experienced and very well-suited to the position. To talk to her now, she is intelligent and personable, the most unlikely ex-con you could expect to meet.

On a personal note, she and her brother, Tony, were the first members of her family to go to University. Tony was a swimmer and won a scholarship to Harvard. He wrote a book about his life and it was made into a film called Swimming Upstream, starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. I downloaded it last night.