The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has said he may seek to remove independent Gareth Ward from the state’s parliament after the MP was charged over allegations of sexual abuse against a man and a 17-year-old boy.
More than 10 months after Ward stepped aside as a minister after revealing he was the subject of a police investigation, police on Tuesday charged the Kiama MP following a long-running probe.
Ward was charged with three counts of assault with acts of indecency, and one count each of common assault and sexual intercourse without consent. The charges relate to two alleged incidents involving a 27-year-old man and 17-year-old boy.
In a statement, Ward denied the charges and said he was looking forward to proving his innocence in court.
The premier’s intervention comes at a tenuous position for the government, which is currently in minority but has benefited from Ward’s vote since he moved to the cross-bench.
Despite holding the seat of Kiama with a margin of more than 10%, Ward’s resignation would force the government to yet another byelection, just months after the Coalition was thumped at a series of votes, which saw it lose the seat of Bega to Labor.
But despite the risk to the government’s numbers, Perrottet immediately called for his resignation on Tuesday and said he would move a motion seeking his expulsion if the MP did not resign voluntarily.
“While Mr Ward is entitled to the presumption of innocence, as any citizen is, the standards expected of an elected member of parliament are not compatible with the seriousness of the charges he is facing,” Perrottet said in a statement.
“Following discussion with the acting premier, I have therefore attempted to contact the Kiama MP to seek his resignation from the parliament with immediate effect.
“Should Mr Ward not resign, the government will move a motion to remove him from the parliament.”
It’s understood that by Tuesday afternoon the government had still been unable to contact Ward, and it remained unclear if an expulsion motion would be moved this week.
Perrottet has also written to the state director of the Liberal party to ask for Ward to be suspended from the party pending the outcome of the trial.
“Mr Ward is entitled to defend himself against the serious charges against him but he must do that as a private citizen,” he said.
Police on Tuesday said they would allege Ward indecently assaulted a 17-year-old boy at Meroo Meadow in February 2013 and sexually abused a 27-year-old man in Sydney in September two years later.
A NSW police spokesperson said he had been charged after an investigation “into the historic alleged sexual abuse of a man and teenage boy”.
“In May 2021, detectives … established Strike Force Condello to investigate allegations of sexual violence-related offences.
“Following extensive inquiries, a 40-year-old man attended Oak Flats Police Station about midday [on Tuesday].”
In a statement, Ward denied the charges.
“I am completely innocent of the charges brought against me. I will be instructing my lawyers to seek to bring this matter before the courts as quickly as possible and I look forward to demonstrating my innocence there,” he said.
“While others have already attempted to prosecute my case in the media rather than the courts, out of respect for our system of justice I will not be doing the same.”
Ward, a key ally to the former premier Gladys Berejiklian, survived calls from some in the government to resign from parliament when the investigation first became public in May last year.
He said at the time he had not been contacted by police and denied any wrongdoing.
Along with Drummoyne MP John Sidoti he is one of two former government ministers who have moved to the cross-bench during the term, but has voted with the Coalition on 23 divisions during that period.
He has also remained active both in parliament and the Kiama community. Only two weeks ago he announced that he would “lead a delegation” to see planning minister Anthony Roberts over proposed planning changes in the electorate.
In parliament on Tuesday, Labor asked education minister, Sarah Mitchell, a number of questions about Ward’s visits to local schools as an MP,including whether restrictions had been placed on MPs visiting schools while under police investigation. She took the questions on notice.
Opposition leader Chris Minns said Labor members would support Perrottet’s motion if Ward refused to quit.
Ward has been granted conditional bail and will appear before Port Kembla local court in May.
He did not say in his statement if he would be seek to remain in parliament while he fought the charges.
