James Hayward: Dumped WA upper house MP lashes Parliament ‘vindictiveness’ and ‘outrageous’ jail conditions

The former WA Nationals MP who won an appeal against his convictions for child sex crimes has lashed State Parliament for “vindictiveness” and spoken out about harsh conditions in jail. And he wants State Parliament to “reinstate” him so he can give a farewell speech. James Hayward was found guilty in August 2023 of directing a young girl to indecently touch him on two occasions when she was aged between six and eight in January 2019 and November 2021. He was handed a term of two years and nine months, and booted out of Parliament. But he last week won an appeal against his convictions and was granted bail ahead of a retrial. He fronted the District Court of WA in person without a lawyer on Friday for a trial listing hearing, when he clarified to Chief Judge Julie Wager that he wasn’t self-representing and his legal counsel simply wasn’t available. Outside court after having his bail renewed, he said he spent 410 days behind bars and was pleased to face a retrial as the first was “not fair”. “I’m looking forward to receiving a fair trial — I’ve always maintained my innocence and I believe that that will come out,” he told reporters. Mr Hayward reiterated, as flagged in a statement after his Court of Appeal win, that he would ask State Parliament to “reinstate” him “to allow me to return to Parliament under parliamentary privilege and have a valedictory speech”. “And in that hour, I intend to say some things that people may not want to hear, but they’re important things that need to be said, and they need to be said under parliamentary privilege. “I believe it’s my right. “I can’t see why there’s any problem — I could be invited to as a former member of parliament.” Under the WA Parliament Constitution, a person is ineligible to be member if they are convicted of a crime that carries a maximum sentence of at least five years in prison. Kicking him out was “something they had to do”, Mr Hayward said. “But then they passed a second motion, which basically took away all of my rights as an ex-member of Parliament. “One of those rights is access to Parliament House. There was no need for that — that was just simply vindictiveness. “And also, they should have waited until the appeal process was over. “I appealed within a short time ... they could have waited until then but they chose not to.” After Mr Hayward was charged in December 2021, he resigned from the Nationals but stayed on as an independent - despite his former party leader Mia Davies calling for him to quit Parliament too, saying it was untenable for him to retain his seat. Days later, he was seen returning to Parliament for a matter of seconds to ensure he kept getting paid his taxpayer-funded salary. The father of six was on a $168,000 salary, plus $78,000 in electorate allowances and a further $74,250 in regional, vehicle and travel allowances. To avoid being in contempt of Parliament, he was required to make a brief appearance in the Legislative Council to ensure he didn’t miss six consecutive sitting days. The former TV producer lodged his appeal application days after being sentenced, arguing the guilty verdict handed down by a jury was “unreasonable” or “could not be supported”. He claimed the judge presiding over a hearing before the trial had failed to exclude evidence that he said had been “obtained unfairly”. The West Australian understands the issue relates to the manner in which the child witness interview — a key part of the State’s case against him — was carried out. The 55-year-old described his incarceration as “a terrible time” and “very, very difficult”, saying conditions at Hakea Prison, where 1300 inmates are crammed into a facility built for 600, were “outrageous”. “It is a very depressing prison, a pretty awful place to be, and there are a lot of guys in there doing it really, really tough. “Three guys in a cell there at Hakea at the moment designed for a single person. “I mean, that’s outrageous ... how we’re looking after our prisoners has got a lot to be desired. “And that’s certainly something I’ve lived and seen, and hopefully can bring about to see some changes in that space.” The court was told State prosecutors were assessing the availability of witnesses for the retrial and his next appearance was scheduled for March 7. After his conviction, he was replaced by Louise Kingston, who was second on the Nationals’ ticket for the upper house South West Region seat at the 2021 election. But after being placed in an unwinnable fifth spot for the 2025 State election, she quit the party in June and remains an MP as an independent.