Former NSW MP Gareth Ward faces sentencing for 2013 and 2015 sexual assaults, with a maximum 14-year sentence possible.

Former NSW MP Gareth Ward, 44, faces sentencing for sexual assaults committed over a decade ago while in office, following a July guilty verdict on charges including sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of indecent assault. He is accused of assaulting an 18-year-old in 2013 after drugging him at his home and a 24-year-old political staffer in 2015 at Parliament House, where the victim said he repeatedly refused. Both victims described lasting emotional trauma. Ward’s legal team sought leniency citing his fall from public standing, but prosecutors noted no evidence of rehabilitation. He denies the allegations and has filed an appeal. The most serious charge carries a maximum 14-year prison sentence. Ward, once a Liberal MP and families minister, was moved to the crossbench in 2021 amid investigations, re-elected as an independent in 2023 despite the charges, and resigned in August 2025 just before a parliamentary expulsion vote, avoiding becoming the fifth person expelled from NSW Parliament in 200 years. Support services are available for survivors of sexual assault.