Will Fowles’ background before stint as MP

He’s been in the job for just eight months before today’s violent outburst in Canberra. So who is the Scotch College boy who has been called a “brash hothead” and “fond of a drink” by other MPs?

State MP Will Fowles arrived in Melbourne to waiting media today. Picture: Mark Stewart

A brash hothead. Full of himself. A decent bloke who’s fond of a drink.

That’s how many Labor MPs have described Will Fowles, the unlikely member for Burwood whose career is now at the crossroads after just eight months in the job.

The Scotch College boy’s larger-than-life personality and loose lips never quite seemed suited to state parliament.

Back in 2010, he mouthed off on social media that he “didn’t realise Movember was for chicks too”, and told friends that “Yum Cha helps when you’re hung — Parliamentarily (sic) or otherwise”.

Mr Fowles, centre, on the campaign trail.

The next year, he lamented the “institutionalised discrimination that Jews, Buddhists, atheists and others are unable to enjoy a drink in a pub” on Good Friday.

Mr Fowles was once the youngest person elected to the powerful Melbourne Cricket Club committee.

But despite his political acumen, he told The Age in 2005 he would find a career in politics “so overwhelmingly frustrating as to feel that I’d wasted a life”.

The 40-year-old — from the successful family behind Fowles Auctions and Sales — instead set himself up as a lobbyist, running his own firm called Piper Communications.

He had a cast of curious clients, including the “cowboy” developers who illegally knocked down the historic Corkman Pub.

The Herald Sun can reveal he also looked after the architect and the superintendent involved in the Lacrosse tower in Docklands, which burst into flames in a shocking cladding-fuelled blaze in 2014.

The Herald Sun is not suggesting he was responsible for the Lacrosse tower incident.

Mr Fowles even ran a heritage pub in central Queensland which went into receivership, prompting claims — which he has not responded to — that his workers were not paid their entitlements.

None of this stopped his preselection as Labor’s Burwood candidate at last year’s state election, backed by Daniel Andrews’s tight-knit southeast Socialist Left faction.

Will Fowles with Daniel Andrews.

It was a fringe Labor target before eastern suburbs electorates all started turning red on the night of November 24.

When Mr Fowles delivered his maiden speech as the member for Burwood, his rhetoric was much loftier than his social media posts might have suggested.

“As parliamentarians we should set the standard,” he said.

“Only through principled behaviour and disciplined debate will this generation of public leaders win back the trust of the citizens we represent.”

In the wake of his violent outburst in Canberra this week, Mr Fowles admitted he had been struggling with addiction and mental health issues “for a long time”.

He is now taking a leave of absence to get better — and to decide if a life in politics really is for him.

HOW FOWLES’ NIGHT IN CANBERRA WENT WRONG

Friends of Will Fowles have feared this day was coming.

Mr Fowles’ day in Canberra started off full of promise.

Fast-forward about 12 hours, and Mr Fowles was this morning being questioned by police after reportedly getting in a dispute with hotel staff and destroying a door.

Mr Fowles, who was elected to state parliament in Daniel Andrews’ landslide victory last November, was in the nation’s capital yesterday to support new federal MPs Kate Thwaites and Peta Murphy deliver their maiden speeches.

He went to the Abode Hotel, which is in the inner-city suburb of Kingston and just a five-minute drive from Parliament House. He dropped his bag off before heading to parliament.

The State Labor MP was in the gallery of the House of Representatives to hear Ms Thwaite’s speech late yesterday afternoon. He was earlier seen at the celebration for Ms Murphy’s speech.

Later, he was snapped in the Senate watching the maiden speech of new Labor senator Raff Ciccone.

He then popped his head into the celebratory drinks for Senator Ciccone, which was also attended by Penny Wong, Ed Husic and Kimberley Kitching.

MP Will Fowles at drinks in parliament with federal Labor frontbencher Kristina Keneally and state Mount Waverley MP Matt Fregon.

A photo caught him waving his hand at the camera for a photo as others celebrated after Senator Ciccone’s moving first speech to parliament.

He then set off for the Kingston Hotel - a few kilometres from Parliament House and a regular Canberra watering hole for politicians, staffers and journalists – where Ms Murphy and friends were celebrating over dinner.

Onlookers said they didn’t notice anything unusual at the pub and he was his usual self.

It is not clear where the night went from here.

Damage at the hotel. Picture: Twitter/@kelliesloane

Mr Fowles was taken by police from the hotel. Picture: Sean Davey/The Australian

People close to Mr Fowles say he has been a good local member for the electorate of Burwood, in Melbourne’s east.

Labor figures were already concerned about the MP’s behaviour with one senior figure observing he was prone to temper tantrums.

When he went to leave his hotel this morning, his bag was still locked up from when he dropped it off.

At about 7.50am, he was then involved in a dispute with hotel staff as he claimed they were illegally holding his luggage. Photographs from the Abode Hotel show a door which has been substantially damaged, indicating he may have kicked it in.

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Police attended and then took Mr Fowles away for questioning. No charges have been laid and police are now talking to the hotel’s owner about the incident.

Mr Fowles hurriedly went to Canberra airport to board a flight back to Melbourne.

Shortly after arriving at Tullamarine Airport, he gave a brief statement saying he made a “very bad mistake”.

“I want to apologise unreservedly to my colleagues, to my constituents and my family.

“This has been a very distressing morning and I will have a further statement later today.”

Mr Fowles, who is a part of the same Left faction as Premier Daniel Andrews, then refused to answer questions as media followed him to his car.

Originally published as Will Fowles’ background before stint as MP