The Premier yesterday appointed Alister Henskens, Member for Ku-ring-gai, as the Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services. Until now the position had been filled in an Acting capacity by the Attorney-General.

The Member for Kiama, Gareth Ward, stood down from the role and moved to the cross bench in mid May after it was revealed he is the subject of a police investigation into sexual violence-related allegations dating back to 2013.

Mr Ward has denied any wrongdoing.

As investigations are continuing, no further information has been made available by the Police.

A spokesman from his office has confirmed that Mr Ward is on indefinite leave.

In response to our query, the spokesman said, “Gareth is presently on leave, but the office is still completely functioning.”

Until this, there had been no confirmation of that being the case, but his absence from a variety of functions and the pause of his weekly newsletter had been noted.

This included the cancellation of a major fundraising event where the Premier was to be the special guest. Tickets for the dinner, at Kiama’s Miss Arda restaurant, were up to $1500 each.