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Convicted rapist still a lawmaker in New South Wales' parliament [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2025-08-05

Gareth Ward, an Australian politician found guilty in July of rape and sexually assaulting two other men, has yet to resign or be removed from his job as a member of New South Wales' state parliament. Though he is now imprisoned, his lawyers have managed so far to prevent the 44-year-old lawmaker's expulsion from Parliament House.

He's got no shame," NSW Premier Chris Minns told local radio station 2GB on Tuesday. He repeated calls for Ward to resign from state parliament, saying it's the "first and most obvious choice … It's an unconscionable situation to have someone who's currently sitting in jail in Silverwater, convicted of serious sexual offences, who is demanding to remain a member of parliament and continue to be paid," Minns said.

Ward represents Kiama, a two-hour drive south of Sydney, and plans to appeal his conviction. He is to learn his sentence next month on the four charges. The constituency currently has no effective representation.

Ward resigned as a state government minister and from the Liberal Party when the accusations emerged in 2021, but refused to leave parliament and was re-elected as the member for Kiama in 2023.

Indeed, voters there re-elected him after the charges were made public, while he was suspended from parliament: "When it comes to elections, the people always get it right," he said at the time. And he enjoyed the positive if ungrammatical favor of Murdoch newspaper The Australian.

Both major parties want former Liberal minister Gareth Ward – who is fight[sic] sex charge offences – to be banned from Parliament if elected. It hasn't gone down well with locals.

Ward has bizarre "prior rodeos" to uncover, if you are so inclined.

Previously:

• Republican lawmaker convicted of raping intern

• Republican lawmaker pleads guilty to Europe child sex tour charge

• Rapist ex-lawmaker claims copyright on his name, threatens legal action against anyone who uses it without permission

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/08/05/convicted-rapist-still-a-lawmaker-in-new-south-wales-parliament.html

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