An independent MP who was suspended from parliament as he fights sexual and indecent assault charges has been re-elected, according to the ABC, raising new questions about how he would serve in the role.
Former Liberal minister Gareth Ward was leading the rival Labor candidate Katelin McInerney 50.8% to 49.2% on Wednesday morning. ABC election analyst Antony Green called the seat for Ward shortly before 11am, saying he could not be caught by his opponent.
Ward pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday.
The new Labor premier, Chris Minns, has previously indicated he would seek to suspend Ward from parliament if he was re-elected.
Asked about the predicament on Tuesday afternoon, Minns said his government would not negotiate with Ward and he would not “backtrack”.
“I’m going to make a decision and an announcement when the poll has been declared,” he said early on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m conscious that there’s a criminal trial that has begun today. I am not going to make comment about it specifically.”
Former premier Dominic Perrottet said in early March his position was that Ward should remain suspended while the criminal proceedings were under way.
Prof George Williams, a constitutional law expert at the University of New South Wales, said he would expect Ward would lose his seat if he is convicted given the charges would violate the NSW constitution.
However, it’s up to the parliament to decide whether it suspends Ward again in the meantime.
William said, if suspended, Ward would be able to continue his job as the MP for Kiama, but could not visit the precinct nor take part in parliamentary processes.
“It certainly affects the proper function of parliament because it means a seat in the community is not represented in parliament,” he said. “His community is not having their say [and] not having influence.”
Williams raised that the parliament may take a different view on whether Ward should be suspended given his constituents have now re-elected him with the knowledge of the allegations.
“It may be, for example, a presumption of innocence, and they really believe he should represent them, so we will see if the parliament takes a different view,” Williams said.
Police have alleged Ward indecently assaulted a 17-year-old boy at Meroo Meadow on NSW’s south coast in February 2013 and that he raped a 27-year-old man in Sydney in September 2015.
He has been charged with five criminal offences, including sexual intercourse without consent, three counts of assault with indecency and common assault, which is an alternative charge to one of the indecency charges. Ward was arraigned at Nowra district court on Tuesday where he pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Greens MP Jenny Leong said her party’s stance had not changed since Ward’s suspension last year.
After revealing he was the subject of a police investigation in May 2021, Ward stepped down from his role as the minister for families and moved to the crossbench “until the matter was resolved”.
In February, Ward revealed he would contest the seat, which he had held for the Liberal party since 2011, as an independent.
