Convicted rapist MP quits Australian parliament moments before ouster vote

Australian state lawmaker and convicted rapist, Gareth Ward, quit his seat in parliament on Friday moments before a vote brought forward by his former colleagues to eject him was set to take place.

Ward, an independent member of parliament in the state of New South Wales, refused to resign earlier despite his conviction in July for sex crimes against two young men.

He failed in a legal bid on Thursday to stop his colleagues from taking the rare action of forced expulsion against him.

The lawmaker, who is in jail as he awaits sentencing, sexually assaulted a political staffer after a parliamentary event in 2015 and abused an 18-year-old at the politician’s home in 2013.

His sentencing on one count of sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of indecent assault is scheduled for September.

Ward failed to stop ouster vote

Ward, 44, refused to resign even after his bail was revoked last week following the convictions. He has since said he plans to appeal and maintain his seat from jail in the meantime, prompting frustration among his peers.

“If you’re convicted of some of the most serious charges, sexual assault in New South Wales, you can’t sit as a serving member of parliament drawing a parliamentary salary,” said Chris Minns, state premier of New South Wales.

“How can you represent your community from behind bars in Cessnock,” he added.

On Monday, Ward launched a legal challenge to an expulsion vote planned for Tuesday. The bid was dismissed by an appeals court on Thursday, allowing a new ouster vote against him to be scheduled.

His resignation came at the very last moment on Friday mornings, as lawmakers assembled in state parliament to participate in the vote. Ward wrote to the speaker of the house, tendering his resignation.

Had the vote gone through with a successful result, Ward would have been the first lawmaker to be expelled from the lower house of the state parliament in over a century. The last lawmaker expelled from the state’s lower house for “unworthy conduct” was in 1917.

Leader of the House Ron Hoenig told reporters it was “shameful” that Ward had taken so long to quit.

“I would have thought being a convicted rapist is enough infamy without going down in history as both a convicted rapist as well as the first person in a century to be expelled,” he added.

Ward has held the seat for Kiama since 2011, first with the centre-right Liberal Party and then as an independent after quitting the group following the emergence of the charges against him. His constituents re-elected him in 2023, despite his 2022 suspension from parliament awaiting trial.

Ward now faces a prison term of up to 14 years if convicted of all charges.