One Nation candidate convicted 15 times for FVRO breach, docs say

A One Nation candidate running for federal Parliament at next month’s election was convicted in 2021 of 15 breaches of a family violence restraining order brought by his ex-partner, according to a prosecution notice.

Daily court listings from the Magistrates Court of Western Australia show Adrian Deeth, One Nation’s candidate for the federal seat of Hasluck in Perth’s north-east, appeared in Midland Magistrates Court in August 2021 for alleged breaches of the order. 

The prosecution notice says that Deeth pleaded guilty to all 15 offences — all for breaching a family violence restraining order — and was convicted, fined $1,000, and ordered to pay court costs. Magistrate Mark Millington then declared the convictions spent, meaning they do not appear as disclosable convictions in police checks.

The convictions remain on Deeth’s private criminal record held by police and must be disclosed should he ever apply for a Working With Children Check or to become a police or prison officer, or work in a school, hospital or child care centre. 

Someone with a spent conviction does not need to disclose it when seeking preselection or standing for federal Parliament. 

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Deeth’s version of events

The 48-year-old mechanic and auto electrician claimed to Crikey that his ex-partner obtained the restraining order against him in July 2021 to prevent him from seeing their young son. 

Deeth says that a month after the order was taken out, he was arrested for allegedly phoning his ex, with the order apparently only permitting him to text or email her. Deeth maintains he accidentally called his ex-partner when responding to her missed call — which he said he didn’t recognise because he had a new SIM card — and then immediately self-reported the incident to police. He says the other 14 alleged breaches involved similar unauthorised communications with his ex-partner. 

When Crikey spoke to Deeth, he claimed he was fined for just one breach, and that the other 14 matters were dropped.

We sought evidence of the magistrate’s decision from Deeth, who said his only copy of the decision was on his water-damaged phone. “I’ve emailed my past lawyer and [to] see if they have a copy still,” he said. 

In the meantime, we applied to the court for the prosecution notice, which read that Deeth was convicted and fined for all 15 offences before having his convictions spent.  

One Nation’s stance

Deeth says he disclosed the court matter to One Nation and leader Pauline Hanson when he applied to be the party’s candidate for Hasluck. He claims he warned Hanson: “You know this will all come out”. 

Crikey has confirmed with One Nation that the party knew about Deeth’s court case before preselecting him, with a spokesperson for Senator Hanson telling us that One Nation “accepts Mr Deeth’s explanation of the matter and notes his defence in court was successful”. 

Deeth is not obligated to disclose his spent convictions to One Nation, or anyone else, except in certain circumstances, none of which apply here.

Men’s rights beliefs

Deeth told Crikey he has a “passion for men’s rights” and is running for Parliament to bring back “accountability and transparency” to the family court and stop it from being used as “a weapon against other parents”. 

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Deeth indicated that Hanson understood his experience, as she believes her son Adam was a victim of false allegations from his former wife in an attempt to prevent him from seeing their son. Adam Hanson pleaded guilty in 2016 to breaching a domestic violence order. 

Hanson told ABC radio in 2019 that mothers are making up claims of domestic violence to the courts to stop fathers having access to their children, however she was unable to provide any evidence for this during the interview or when later questioned by The Guardian. 

Senator Hanson’s office said in a statement that she “stands by” her comments as they are “backed by evidence submitted to the joint select committee on Australia’s family law system”.

However, research shows that domestic violence is vastly underreported, with less than half of all incidents reported to police, and experts have found no evidence that women falsify or exaggerate claims of domestic violence to win custody battles. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT. For counselling, advice and support for men who have anger, relationship or parenting issues, call the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.

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