Brian Deegan (born 14 February 1955) is an Australian political activist and former

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

. He was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and studied law at

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

. He graduated in 1979 and practised criminal and matrimonial law. In 1988 he was appointed a South Australian magistrate. Deegan's son Joshua was an Australian rules football player who was one of 202 people killed by Islamic terrorists in the October 2002 Bali bombings. Josh was on a post-season Indonesian holiday with his teammates from the Sturt Football Club, which had just won the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as t ...

premiership. Following Joshua's death, Brian Deegan became a vocal critic of the foreign policy of the government led by

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

, the then

Australian Prime Minister The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the principl ...

. In November 2002 he wrote an open letter to Howard, linking the Bali bombings to Australia's role in the

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

. In 2003 he was critical of the government using the Bali bombings to justify its support for the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

. In the 2004 federal election he took part in the 'Not happy, John!' campaign. He resigned as magistrate in July, to stand as an independent against Foreign Minister

Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...

in the seat of

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

in South Australia. He achieved over 15 per cent on the primary vote, overtook

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

on preferences, and finished second to Downer, on a

two party preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

figure of 38.19 per cent. In the

2008 Mayo by-election The 2008 Mayo by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Mayo, located in Adelaide, South Australia, on 6 September 2008, following the retirement of Liberal Party MP and former Liberal leader Alexander Downer. The ...

, Deegan decided not to stand again as an independent candidate in order to retain his private legal practice. He wrote a book titled ''Remembering Josh: Bali, a father's story''.

Personal

He married his first wife Angela in 1979, and had two sons, Josh and Nick. He married his second wife Virginia in 1988, and had two further children, Patrick and Eloise.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deegan, Brian) Not happy John! campaign Australian activists 1955 births Living people