A rapist and bully but beloved by Boomers: The turbulent history of Gareth Ward

In the aftermath of the March 2023 state election, Berry business owner Kate Dezarnaulds posed a powerful question on social media. How could the voters of Kiama, in good conscience, return an MP to parliament with serious sexual assault charges hanging over his head?

“What is wrong with my community,” Dezarnaulds asked, “when multiple victims of sexual assault are disbelieved by half our residents? What is wrong with my community when having a member who is unable to enter their place of work or cast a vote on our behalf is good enough for half of our residents?” Dezarnaulds was referring to the now convicted rapist and former MP Gareth Ward.

Ward re-contested Kiama as an independent after being forced to quit the Liberal Party in 2021 and move to the crossbench while he awaited his trial for historical sexual assault charges. For almost two years, he was barred from parliament after a successful suspension motion, and while his margin in the once-safe seat was slashed in 2023, he was returned as the MP for Kiama.

The response to Dezarnaulds’ post was swift, but not from Kiama voters. Rather, Ward called in RMB Lawyers, his go-to firm on the South Coast when people dared to criticise him. Ward threatened to sue Dezarnaulds for defamation.

Dezarnaulds printed the apology demanded from Ward’s lawyers, insisting she did not intend to suggest he was guilty of anything. Dezarnaulds went on to contest the May federal election as a Climate 200-backed independent in the seat of Gilmore. Ward continued his attacks on her during the election campaign, including lodging a complaint with the Australian Electoral Commission about her how-to-vote cards. The commission took no action.

RMB Lawyers, by all accounts, has done well thanks to Ward’s litigious streak. Dezarnaulds estimates he has sent concerns notices, the first step in signalling defamation proceedings, to dozens of people across the South Coast. In one case, he threatened to sue former Greens candidate and academic Tonia Gray.

Gray did not want to comment, preferring to never think about Ward again. But after his conviction for the indecent and sexual assault of two young men, and his subsequent refusal to resign from parliament, Gray posted on Facebook: “I’m speechless about the audacity of this man. We know he is a bully, we have been on the receiving end of his attacks.”

(The Herald also received a concerns notice from Ward via RMB Lawyers after writing that he had made calls supporting the preselection of his friend and ex-Liberal colleague Rory Amon ahead of the 2023 election. Amon’s political career ended up being short-lived, and he has since quit parliament after being charged with child sexual assault, which he denies. Ward’s legal threat against the Herald went nowhere.)

Even the day after he was remanded in custody after being found guilty of rape, Ward’s lawyers were fighting a defamation case on his behalf against radio station 2SM.

It is not clear whether Ward has personally picked up all his legal costs, but in one instance, the taxpayer footed the bill for a $1012.08 electoral expense billed to RMB Lawyers for “election research”, according to his 2022-23 annual disclosures.

Over the years, South Coast Facebook pages have detailed nasty stoushes with Ward, yet he was also wildly popular with some locals. A Kiama businessman, who does not want to alienate Ward’s supporters, puts it like this: “Gareth made a lot of enemies but had devotion from his core Boomer base.”

Neil Reilly, a former mayor of Kiama, has known Ward since 2008 when he was a very young councillor. “I think that Gareth saw the world as a transactional relationship, where people were with him or against him,” Reilly said.

“He fell into the trap where he saw the world through a political lens. If Gareth thought there was a political advantage in having a relationship with people, he would take that up quite enthusiastically. ”

Indeed, one of Ward’s greatest skills was winning over the older voters in his electorate. His parliamentary colleagues would marvel at his commitment to bussing up retirees to Macquarie Street and hosting them for lunch in parliament. His Facebook page, which was briefly taken down after this conviction, before being heavily cleansed of many posts, is full of photos of various Probus groups visiting him in parliament.

Ward, who ran on a platform of “innocent until proven guilty”, also managed to convince business owners on the South Coast to back his re-election bid in 2023. One of those was Andy Waller, a former Chamber of Commerce president and owner of the Heads Hotel in Shoalhaven. Waller featured on Ward’s political advertising, saying “Gareth has my full support”. Plenty of others offered similar endorsements of Ward, who was families minister in the Berejiklian government.

Ultimately, Ward loved sparring with his political opponents, once calling the Labor MP for Shoalhaven Anna Watson a “grub” during a fiery parliamentary debate. In September 2018, Watson asked then-premier Gladys Berejiklian in question time whether she had received complaints about Ward’s behaviour, including “anger management issues” and “an issue with women”. Berejiklian said she had not, but she expected MPs to behave appropriately.

The most bitter of interactions, however, involved two Liberal women. Former MPs for Gilmore Joanna Gash and Ann Sudmalis were known enemies of Ward’s over many years. In her valedictory speech, Sudmalis did not hold back.

“Bullying, betrayal and backstabbing have been the hallmarks of one of my state Liberal colleagues, Gareth Ward, over the past six and a half years,” Sudmalis told federal parliament in 2018. “This is not the first time Gareth has flexed his vengeance on strong Liberal women. He doesn’t just get even, he annihilates anyone who opposes him.”

Ward fired back with his customary threats of defamation. “If there was any evidence to support the claim that Ms Sudmalis made,” Ward said, “I’d challenge her to make them outside of parliament where she’s not protected by parliamentary privilege.”

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