The ABC election guru Antony Green has called Kiama for sitting MP, now Independent, Gareth Ward.

On Twitter this morning he said, “Kiama update - 79.1% counted. Ward on 50.8%. We have no preference count for the postals where he polled 48.6% of the primary vote. Including those he will be on about 51.2% and won't be passed, especially with a thousand more postals to count this weekend.”

Comments have yet to be made by Mr Ward or Labor’s Katelin McInnerney. Further posts will follow.

The beginning of the fourth term for the MP is coinciding with appearances in court over alleged serious sexual assault charges laid in 2012 [Mixed day for Gareth Ward].

The question now is whether the Minns Labor Government will go through with its stated intention of suspending Mr Ward from the new Parliament.

Outspoken local Liberal Party member, Mark Croxford (President of the Kiama State Electorate Conference - the overarching body for the Liberal branches in the Kiama electorate) says that Mr Minns and the former Premier Dominic Perrottet could learn from the way WA Premier Mark McGowan has handled a State MP facing charges of alleged child sex abuse.

Back in December 2021, McMcGowan said it was a matter for the courts and wouldn’t comment on whether his position was tenable or if he should be stood down.

“Perrottet and Minns seem to be making a hasty decision without considering the fundamental legal principle of innocent until proven guilty,” says Mark Croxford, a councillor on Kiama Council.