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.
[2] Following Joshua's death, Brian Deegan became a vocal critic of the foreign policy of the government led by John Howard, the then Australian Prime Minister.
In November 2002 he wrote an open letter to Howard, linking the Bali bombings to Australia's role in the War on Terror.
[5] He resigned as magistrate in July, to stand as an independent against Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in the seat of Mayo in South Australia.
In the 2008 Mayo by-election, Deegan decided not to stand again as an independent candidate in order to retain his private legal practice.