‘Concerns for his safety’: Police search for missing former NSW Nationals MP

Police are searching for a controversial former NSW Nationals MP after he went missing from his Tamworth home on Friday.

Former Upper Hunter Nationals MP Michael Johnsen has gone missing from his Tamworth home.

A former NSW Nationals MP, who resigned over a series of controversies involving a sex worker has gone missing from his Tamworth home, with police saying they are concerned for his safety.

Former Upper Hunter MP Michael Johnsen went missing after leaving his West Tamworth home last Friday.

Oxley Police released a statement seeking assistance to locate him saying they held concerns for his safety and welfare.

Federal New England MP Barnaby Joyce, who is a friend of Mr Johnsen said he had reached out to the police via his office.

“This is a huge shock, I hope and pray for a good resolution but hold grave concerns,” he said.

“We hope he is found safe and well.”

Mr Johnsen was forced out of the National Party in 2021 after he was falsely accused of raping a sex worker in the Blue Mountains and offering her $1000 for sex at Parliament House two years earlier.

Mr Johnsen always denied the allegations and in 2021 the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the investigation, advising police that there was “insufficient admissible evidence” for any charges to be laid.

Former Nationals Upper Hunter MP Michael Johnsen resigned from NSW parliament in 2021. Picture: Richard Dobson

The MP also found himself embroiled in a sexting controversy after it was revealed he had been sexting the woman during Question Time.

Mr Johnsen had met the sex worker through Locanto personal online ads and arranged three discreet rendezvous in a bush, under a bridge and at her home in 2019.

In 2021 Mr Johnsen told The Daily Telegraph that while he “was stupid to be texting a sex worker in parliament”, he had never raped her.

“I saw a sex worker and, yes, it was not my first dalliance — but I’ve never seen one while in a committed relationship,” he said at the time.

“It was titillating and exciting — I was finding myself again after 30 years of marriage. I married at the age of 21 and had never played the field.

“I’m a red blooded male, sorry if I get turned on. But rape? It just didn’t happen.”

Originally published as ‘Concerns for his safety’: Police search for missing former NSW Nationals MP