Diane Fingleton

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Diane McGrath Fingleton (born 11 January 1947) is a former magistrate in Queensland. She was the state’s first female Chief Magistrate, serving from 1999 to 2002, and later faced a conviction for intimidation of a witness that was overturned on appeal.

Diane grew up in Brisbane and attended St Stephen’s Cathedral School and All Hallows’ School. She worked as a stenographer for Bill Hayden during the Whitlam years, then studied law in the late 1970s and early 1980s while waitressing at night. In 1995 she was appointed to the Queensland magistracy, and in 1998 she became a senior magistrate.

In 1999 the Beattie government appointed her Chief Magistrate, a move that was seen as controversial and was criticized by some. In 2000 she faced criticism for holding reconciliation ceremonies in six Magistrates Courts and for issuing a formal apology to Indigenous peoples.

In 2002 Fingleton emailed a fellow magistrate, Basil Gribbin, threatening to have him dismissed from a senior position because he had supported a colleague in a workplace dispute. She was charged with retaliation against a witness. A prosecutor from New South Wales, Margaret Cunneen, handled the case. Fingleton was convicted and sentenced to a jail term, but the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence and she was released later that year.

She sought to take the case to the High Court. In October 2004, special leave to appeal was granted, and in 2005 the High Court unanimously quashed her conviction. The Court held that she had immunity from criminal prosecution for actions done in the course of her judicial or administrative duties.

After the High Court ruling, Fingleton was appointed again as a magistrate, this time at Caloundra, in 2005. She retired in May 2010, but continued to serve in board roles and as a speaker. In 2017 she was a special guest speaker at the 50th anniversary of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties. Her brother Tony’s film Swimming Upstream includes brief references to her.