Gareth Ward the favourite to be re-elected in Kiama in NSW state election as he fights sex charges
Politician fighting charges ‘he sexually assaulted a man, 27, and boy, 17′ is bookmakers’ FAVORITE to win key seat
- NSW MP Gareth Ward is contesting sexual charges
- He is the favorite to be re-elected in Kiama
A former state Liberal minister suspended from parliament for challenging sex charges is the favorite to be re-elected in Saturday’s election.
Kiama’s member Gareth Ward runs as an independent and is the front runner in his South Coast NSW voters, with Sportsbet giving him the shortest $1.35 odds.
By comparison, its liberal rival Melanie Gibbons has a longer quote of $5. She was dropped in the seat after losing a local Liberal Party pre-selection for the seat of Holsworthy, 100 km away, where she was the local MP.
Daily Mail Australia understands that Liberal Party polls show Mr Ward will be re-elected for a fourth term, with Sportsbet placing bets on him again on Friday.
No opportunities were offered for Mr. Ward late Thursday night.
Labour’s Katelin McInerney has a $5.50 chance of a seat her party held from 1981 to 2011, when Mr Ward was elected when the coalition first came to power.
Mr Ward was suspended from the Legislative Assembly in March last year after being charged with three counts of indecent assault, one count of unauthorized sexual intercourse and one count of common assault.
Kiama’s member Gareth Ward is the front-runner in his NSW south coast electorate, with Sportsbet giving him the narrowest $1.35 chance (he’s pictured left with former Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian)
He had resigned from the Liberal party in May 2021 after being part of the moderate faction.
The former Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Care is contesting all police charges alleging he indecently assaulted a 17-year-old boy at Meroo Meadow in 2013 and sexually assaulted a 27-year-old man in Sydney in 2015.
The case remains in court and Mr Ward said he is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Sportsbet predicts the Labor opposition will take the Liberal Party’s East Hills, Parramatta, Penrith and Riverstone Sydney seats, plus Heathcote’s imaginary Labor voters.
That would leave Labor leader Chris Minns with 42 seats – five short of the necessary 47 needed for a majority in the 93-member lower house, as the coalition is left with 41 seats.
Mr Ward was suspended from the Legislative Assembly in March last year after being charged with three counts of indecent assault, one count of unauthorized sexual intercourse and one count of common assault (he is pictured during Question Time in 2020)
Both Mr Minns and Liberal Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet have vowed to refrain from seeking support from Mr Ward to help form a minority government.
This would make three Green MPs the decision makers, along with former same-sex marriage campaigner Alex Greenwich, regional independents Greg Piper and Joe McGirr, and former Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party members Helen Dalton, Phil Donato and Roy Butler.
Labor goes into the election with 36 seats it already holds, but two more with redistributions, including the new seat of Leppington and the fictional Labor voters of Heathcote, bringing the existing number to 38.
The coalition starts with 44 seats, following an unfavorable redistribution in Heathcote, an interim loss to Labor in Bega and the loss of two Liberal MPs to the crossbench over a scandal since the 2019 election.
By comparison, Melanie Gibbons, Mr Ward’s Liberal rival, has a $5 longer chance. She was parachuted into the seat after losing a local Liberal Party pre-selection for the seat of Holsworthy, 100 miles away , where she was the local Member of Parliament.