While the Premier Dominic Perrottet has expressed his confidence in the Liberal Party claiming back the seat of Kiama from now independent Gareth Ward at the March State Election, no Liberal candidate has nominated as yet.

In Nowra to announce major new funding for investigating the Nowra Bypass project, the Premier told a press conference that he expected a candidate to be named soon.

“The Liberal Party is going to win the seat of Kiama,” he said.

Nominations have been open for some months, and no obvious candidate has yet to emerge.

Mike Cains, who ran for the seat of Whitlam in the Federal Election and has been talked about as a prime candidate for Kiama, has confirmed to The Bugle it won’t be him.

“It won’t be me who runs,” he says.

“I gave it deep consideration, but the timing isnt good as I have to fulfill my Nuffield Scholarship commitments in Canada in late March.

“I look forward to offering, whoever the Liberal candidate is, all my assistance and support.”

A former minister, Mr Ward moved to the crossbench in May 2021 after he revealed himself to be the subject of a criminal inquiry into sexual violence allegations.

In May 2022, following an investigation by the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad into the historic alleged sexual abuse of a man and teenage boy, charges of three counts of assault with act of indecency, and one count each of sexual intercourse without consent and common assault were laid.

He was then suspended from Parliament, meaning he has not been able to speak, vote or even enter its grounds.

Mr Ward says he is completely innocent of the charges, which have yet to be heard in court, and that they are politically motivated.

Mr Ward has continued to act as the Member for Kiama despite his suspension. Pictured here with Mayor Reilly after the South Kiama planning approval was granted.

He has yet to announce his candidacy for the election, as an independent, but he has booked advertising space with The Bugle and other media ahead of the March election.

“Both major parties are taking our community for granted,” he says.

“The Opposition in particular continue to attack me personally rather than offer a single policy, pledge or commitment to our region.

“I trust our community and when it comes to elections, voters always get it right.

“Perhaps major parties and their candidates should be more obsessed with what they actually want to do rather than what I may be doing. 

“I’m continuing to work hard and get things done as our local MP.

“As I have previously said, when I have something to say about the next election – I will.”

Labor’s Kaitlin McInerney is bemused by his take on what has been happening since she was endorsed in August.

“We made the first local government announcement across the State when we said that SALT Ministries would receive emergency funding to stay open to continue their important work in our electorate.

“I simply don’t know where this comment is coming from,” she says.

“What we have called for is a strong local voice who can appear on the floor of Parliament.

“What we’ve done is spoken to a lot of people about big issues, and we aren’t hearing anything from the Government about what they plan to do to fix it.

“The point is Labor has made a number of major policy announcements that will impact local people – such as minimising teacher workload, agreeing to bump up frontline workers pay and also to kickstart the school funding program.”

While first saying the lateness of choosing a candidate is a matter for the Liberal Party, she says, “I think it is disrespectful and disappointing considering the magnitude of the challenges people in the electorate are facing at the moment.

Kaitlin McInerney with Labor leader Chris Minns, who has visited Kiama on a number of occasions already

“We are out there door knocking most days of the week, and people are feeling not listened to.

“For the Premier to say we are going to win it without having a candidate in place is incredibily disrespectful.”

Greens candidate Professor Tonia Gray says, “The fact that we are ten weeks out from an election and there is no Liberal candidate or Gareth Ward announced mirrors the same thing that happened in the Federal election, when last minute decisions were made.

“We saw the disaster that emerged from that.

“What it really is telling us is that this Liberal National Party Government has no plan for the future.”

She also rejects the idea he is being attacked personally rather than on policy.

If the Liberals do find a candidate, the question of where they direct preferences will be closely watched.