Australian lawmaker convicted of rape quits moments before vote to expel him

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- An Australian state lawmaker and convicted rapist, who is in jail awaiting his sentence, quit his seat Friday moments before a vote scheduled by his former colleagues to eject him.

Gareth Ward, an independent member of parliament in New South Wales state, earlier refused to resign despite his July convictions by a jury for sex crimes against two young men. He failed in a legal bid Thursday to stop his peers taking rare action to expel him.

Ward, 44, 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.

In a bizarre and unusual episode for Australian politics, Ward refused to resign even after his bail was revoked last week following the convictions. He has said he plans to appeal and to keep his seat from jail in the meantime, prompting derision from 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,” state Premier Chris Minns told reporters Friday. “How can you represent your community from behind bars in Cessnock?”

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

As lawmakers assembled to oust him from Parliament Friday morning — a measure expected to draw cross-party support — Ward wrote to the speaker of the house tendering his resignation. He would have been the first lawmaker to be expelled from the lower house of the state parliament in more than a century.

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,” Hoenig said.

Expulsions from Australian legislatures are rare and only lawmakers in New South Wales and Victoria have ever exercised their powers to oust their peers by vote. The last lawmaker expelled from New South Wales’ lower house for “unworthy conduct” was in 1917.

Ward had held the seat of Kiama since 2011, first with the center-right Liberal Party and then as an independent after he quit the group when the charges against him emerged. A date has not been set for a byelection in his seat.

His constituents reelected him in 2023, despite his 2022 suspension from Parliament awaiting trial.

Ward’s lawyer argued in the state’s appeals court Thursday that the fact of his convictions alone did not automatically mean his conduct was unworthy. In a scathing decision rejecting his legal bid, the court ordered Ward to pay costs.

The former lawmaker faces a prison term of up to 14 years. He did not comment publicly Friday.

Ward was the state’s minister for families, communities and disability services between 2019 and 2021. He served an eight-year term as a local council member before entering Parliament.