Gareth Ward’s lawyer argues criminal convictions alone not the ‘unworthy conduct’ needed as grounds for expulsion
Jordyn Beazley
Gareth Ward’s lawyer has argued the MP for Kiama’s convictions cannot alone be considered the “unworthy conduct” needed as grounds to expel him from parliament.
Ward was found guilty in July of sexually abusing two young men in 2013 and 2015. He is appealing his convictions, which include three counts of indecent assault and one for sexual intercourse without consent.
Ward’s barrister, Peter King, said:
It’s not, in our respectful submission, justice according to law to say to someone, ‘well you’ve been convicted, we’re now going to punish you by expelling you from the parliament’.
We submit that the [common law] privilege doesn’t work that way.
King said the four convictions cannot alone be the basis for the expulsion given the judicial process is yet to conclude, and that the government has identified no other “unworthy conduct” in its reasons to expel him.
If he’s acquitted, and he’s lost all the rights that an innocent man would otherwise have, his career has been trashed.
Chief justice Andrew Bell – one of the three judges overseeing the matter – interjected to say the criminal convictions were serious. Bell said: “He’s had, as you say, a nine-week trial, and he’s been convicted by 12 of his fellow citizens.”
King later compared Ward’s absence from parliament to someone who has a “serious malady or illness or cancer or something” and cannot attend parliament for nine months.
Key events
Independent Kate Chaney pushes plan to lift GST, with Australians getting $3,300 a year in offsets
A bold proposal to give Australians an extra $3,300 per year in exchange for a rise in the goods and services tax is being treated with caution by the major parties, AAP reports.
Independent MP Kate Chaney calls for the implementation of a “progressive GST model” as the federal government looks for ways to reinvigorate Australia’s languishing productivity and strengthen the budget at an economic roundtable.
Under the plan, first proposed by economist Richard Holden, Australia would lift the rate of the consumption tax from 10 to 15% and apply it to exempt items such as food, education and health.
But to mitigate the impact on those with lower incomes, all Australians aged 18 and older would be given a $3,300 rebate, meaning they would effectively pay no GST on the first $22,000 of their annual expenses.
Cheney said:
The major parties like to talk about tax cuts and spending but they’re less willing to discuss where the money will come from. We have to have courageous conversations about other revenue sources to avoid handballing this problem to future generations.
Patrick Commins
Call for economic roundtable to include under 40s
Not a single participant at Jim Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable is under the age of 40.
In hyping his talkfest back in June, Chalmers said “the decisions we make in the 2020s will determine the sort of living standards and intergenerational justice that we have in the decades to come”.
And younger Australians have plenty to worry about.
Unaffordable homes, soaring student debt programs, the burden of higher taxes to pay for an ageing population and fears that AI will crush their careers – all threaten to leave the current generation with lower living standards than their parents.
Then there’s the more existential threat from climate change.
But, as Jane Body from the Intergenerational Fairness Coalition notes, the reform roundtable agenda also doesn’t find space for a specific session on intergenerational issues.
Body is calling for at least two under-40 representatives to be added to the list of conference attendees, or at least an organisation focused on issues facing young Australians.
Qantas has devalued its frequent flyer points. What should you do now?
Qantas was back in the spotlight this week with news that affected members of its frequent flyer program.
The airline has made significant changes to its loyalty program, effectively devaluing its frequent flyer points.
Qantas has announced changes to its loyalty program. But will they benefit frequent flyers – and are members better off spending their points on shopping instead of flights?
My colleague, Catie McLeod, explains:
Office building vacancies at highest level in 30 years, data shows
The vacancy rate for Australian office buildings is at the highest level in three decades, according to new figures from the Australian Property Council.
The body released new data today finding office vacancies had risen from 14.7% to 15.2% nationally.
Mike Zorbas, the chief of the council, said many tenants were increasingly opting for premium offices that have been hitting the market in greater numbers. Those upper-tier choices have seen a year and a half of positive growth, while lower-grade choices had seen falling occupancy rates. The council notes that offices are graded on levels of quality, with premium and A grade the highest and B, C and D grades considered of “secondary” quality.
Zorbas said in a statement:
Tenants are capitalising on opportunities to occupy premium buildings in prime CBD locations, with premium space continuing to see higher demand levels than lower-grade buildings.
Much of this demand is centred on Premium and A Grade buildings, with B, C and D grade office buildings experiencing negative demand over the last six months.
Gareth Ward’s lawyer argues criminal convictions alone not the ‘unworthy conduct’ needed as grounds for expulsion
Jordyn Beazley
Gareth Ward’s lawyer has argued the MP for Kiama’s convictions cannot alone be considered the “unworthy conduct” needed as grounds to expel him from parliament.
Ward was found guilty in July of sexually abusing two young men in 2013 and 2015. He is appealing his convictions, which include three counts of indecent assault and one for sexual intercourse without consent.
Ward’s barrister, Peter King, said:
It’s not, in our respectful submission, justice according to law to say to someone, ‘well you’ve been convicted, we’re now going to punish you by expelling you from the parliament’.
We submit that the [common law] privilege doesn’t work that way.
King said the four convictions cannot alone be the basis for the expulsion given the judicial process is yet to conclude, and that the government has identified no other “unworthy conduct” in its reasons to expel him.
If he’s acquitted, and he’s lost all the rights that an innocent man would otherwise have, his career has been trashed.
Chief justice Andrew Bell – one of the three judges overseeing the matter – interjected to say the criminal convictions were serious. Bell said: “He’s had, as you say, a nine-week trial, and he’s been convicted by 12 of his fellow citizens.”
King later compared Ward’s absence from parliament to someone who has a “serious malady or illness or cancer or something” and cannot attend parliament for nine months.
Labor says it has not been approached by US about Iranian man
Tom McIlroy
Continuing from previous post:
Documents provided by US authorities suggest Zavvar could be sent to Australia or Romania, despite Zavvar having no links to either place. He has never lived in either country.
Guardian Australia approached the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, and the foreign minister, Penny Wong, for an explanation about the case, but Labor says it has not been approached by the United States in relation to it.
A government spokesperson said there was no new agreement for transfer of US immigration detainees to Australia. They said:
We consider any application for a visa on its merits, we have not been contacted by the US government about this matter.
There have been no new agreements made with the Trump Administration on immigration.
Tom McIlroy
Trump administration threatens to deport Iranian man to Australia
Labor has cast doubt on the possibility of the Trump administration transferring an Iranian-born man from US immigration detention to Australia, saying it has no knowledge of the case.
The US government is threatening to deport Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old recruiter from Maryland, to either Australia or Romania.
Zavvar is being held in detention, despite holding a US immigration green card, due to a historical conviction for marijuana possession which dates back to the 1990s.
Zavvar cannot be sent back to Iran due to risk of persecution there, and his lawyer Ava Benach says he has been told he could be sent to a third country.
The Trump administration has taken a hard line on deporting non-citizens from the US, often to countries in South America. The deportation policy has seen people arrested without warning by federal officials around the US, and has sparked a series of legal challenges.
Albanese says work-from-home arrangements benefit ‘workers and employers’
Albanese was asked about his position on work-from-home after Victoria premier Jacinta Allan outlined plans to legislate flexible working rights.
The prime minister said during a press conference today:
We think that working from home and flexible working arrangements can benefit both workers and employers. And during the election campaign … the Coalition promised, of course, to send people back to the office five days a week.
That ended up with some of them not having an office any more.
I think that flexible working arrangements benefit both workers and employers.
When asked if he would support a legislated right to work from home on a federal level, Albanese said Labor had already amended the Fair Work Act in 2022 with the Secure Jobs, Better Pay amendment.
Jacinta Allan is Victorian premier. She’s putting forward her views. I’ve got to say it’s consistent with our views, which are that working from home is something that’s important, something that Australians voted for, something that Peter Dutton tried to clamp down on, and Australians responded accordingly.
Gareth Ward’s lawyer says NSW parliament acting as ‘kangaroo court’ in expulsion move
Jordyn Beazley
Convicted rapist MP Gareth Ward is facing an urgent court hearing this morning after he sought an injunction to stop his parliamentary colleagues expelling him from the New South Wales parliament.
Ward’s barrister, Peter King, is providing his arguments now before the three judge bench in the court of appeal. King argued the NSW Legislative Assembly was seeking to expel Ward via a “kangaroo court” because Ward’s “existing right as a member of the assembly to speak in the debate to oppose the resolution is lost”.
Ward, the independent MP for Kiama, is in Silverwater jail, where he has been remanded pending sentencing in September. King told the court this was one of a number of reasons why he would argue the government’s resolution to expel Ward was “punitive in nature”.
Another reason he argued it was punitive was because Ward’s expulsion would trigger a byelection and “he’s further punished in that respect, by losing the opportunity to regain his seat”.
A judge interjected to say Ward’s inability to attend parliament and oppose the resolution was “driven entirely” by the fact he applied for bail but was refused.
King responded the difficulty was the resolution being “brought on hurriedly” and in “circumstances in which it means that his existing right as a member of the assembly to speak in the debate to oppose the resolution is lost.”
Albanese and Butler tout new Medicare urgent care clinics
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the health minister, Mark Butler, are in Melbourne to speak about the government’s efforts to open 50 Medicare urgent care clinics. The prime minister told media of three new clinics in Victoria:
When you need healthcare, you can get it and you can get it for free. That is why this is so important going forward. My government is really proud that we’re doing this. We want to see, if possible, our objective of the 50 urgent care clinics, additional [ones] opened as soon as possible. Certainly within a year, but we’ll see how we go about how many we can get open in 2025.
My government is determined that this will be a year of delivery – delivery on the commitments which Australians voted for.
The three existing clinics in Warrnambool, Sunshine and Warragul were state-funded urgent care services, but have been brought in to the federal urgent care clinic network. Nine new clinics will be established in Victoria between 2025 and 2026.
Butler said the new urgent care clinics were already taking pressure off hospital emergency departments, saying eventually four in five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive to an urgent care clinic. Butler said:
It’s taking pressure off the hospital system, it’s providing people with that option for care seven days a week, extended hours, and fully bulk-billed. And it’s a central part of our strengthening Medicare agenda.
Search for missing plane enters sixth day along Tasmania’s coast
Tasmania Police are continuing the search for a small plane that went missing on Saturday after leaving the state’s George Town airport. Two people – identified as Gregory Vaughan, 72, and his partner, Kim Worner, 66 – were on board, along with their dog, travelling to regional NSW.
A police helicopter will search the coastline along northern Tasmania today after early searches found no sign of the light sport plane. No boats have been able to join the hunt since Tuesday due to challenging weather conditions and no new search areas have been identified.
The matter is now part of an active investigation, officials said. Police said previously there has been no contact with the couple, or their plane, since it left the George Town airport near Tasmania’s north coast.
Parts of central NSW still under evacuation orders as flood waters move downstream
Some residents in the towns of Gunnedah and Narrabri remain under flood evacuation orders after last weekend’s heavy rain.
The NSW SES notes 20 emergency warnings are active in parts of NSW, including 16 “evacuate now” alerts. About 2,200 volunteers have responded to more than 2,600 incidents since the latest weather event began, with 40 flood rescues so far. Officials said on social media those threats remain for those along the Namoi River at Wee Waa:
The Namoi River at Wee Waa is continuing to rise and the flood risk in the town is increasing today and NSW SES has prepositioned crews and assets in the affected areas in preparation.
SES officials urge residents in potentially impacted areas to stay up-to-date with the HazardWatch app.
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