Political lobbyist Michael Kauter bailed AVO breaching involving husband David Gracey

Michael Kauter has given bail after his arrest overnight for allegedly contravening an apprehended domestic violence order less than 24 hours after it was imposed.

Michael Kauter is accused of breaching an AVO less than 24 hours after it was imposed. Picture: Facebook

Political lobbyist and former Nationals official Michael Kauter has been granted conditional bail in a Sydney court this afternoon, hours after he was arrested and charged with contravening an apprehended domestic violence order involving his husband, kidney transplant specialist Professor David Gracey.

Kauter, the executive chairman of Strategic Political Counsel and a former campaign donor to Pauline Hanson, is alleged to have breached the AVO — less than 24 hours after it was imposed – by sending a text message to Mr Gracey.

Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court heard Kauter was charged with a property damage offence on Tuesday, which his barrister, Daniel Grippi, said involved damage to a picture frame following the breakdown of the pair’s marriage.

Kauter was arrested, charged and released on police bail at the time, with a future court date of December 17.

The apprehended domestic violence put in place prohibited Kauter from contacting Mr Gracey.

However, police allege less than 24 hours later, Kauter sent a text message to Mr Gracey, in breach of the AVO.

Political lobbyist Michael Kauter, left was granted conditional bail. Picture: Supplied

He was arrested and charged with contravening an apprehended domestic violence order and refused police bail to appear in court on Wednesday afternoon.

During a brief bail application, Mr Grippi told the court his client would contest the property damage offence, which he said relied “almost exclusively on the word of the complainant”.

He said Mr Gracey’s credibility would be a live issue at the hearing, foreshadowing an argument alleging that Mr Gracey could have been motivated to lie to police in order to obtain a larger slice of the “matrimonial assets” in court.

He said his client was not a flight risk and should be released on conditional bail.

Police opposed the application, saying Kauter’s alleged breach of the order less than 24 hours after it was imposed was concerning.

“Compliance would be a significant issue given [the alleged breach] place so soon after it [the AVO] was put in place,” the prosecutor said.

Political lobbyist Michael Kauter, left with former partner David Gracey, right.

Magistrate Margaret Quinn agreed to grant bail on the condition Kauter not enter the suburb of Mosman and not contact Mr Gracey.

“I’d say he’s humiliated himself more than anything else,” she said, noting a custodial sentence was highly unlikely, even though the case involving the contravene charge was a strong one.

“There’s no violence in the matter … it’s simply contact.

“He’s a risk but certainly not an unacceptable one.”

As part of his bail, Kauter must live at a specified address in Potts Point and is banned from contacting Mr Gracey.

The matter will return to court later this month.

Kauter, a one time senior political adviser in the Coalition government and former deputy federal campaign director for The Nationals, started Strategic Political Counsel as a “boutique political lobbying firm” in 2015.

On his LinkedIn profile, Kauter boasts about building “impeccable relationships with some of Australia’s most prominent political figures, business, and industry leaders”

“He has worked in the public and private sectors and for charitable organisations in many sectors, including the university and higher education sector, financial services, healthcare and agriculture,” the profile reads.

He also gives a shout out to Mr Gracey in the blurb, saying Strategic Political Counsel was proud to have established a “charitable outreach program to support the health of the people of Zimbabwe through its medical director, Professor David Gracey.”

According to a profile on the College Street Specialists website, Professor Gracey is a senior staff specialist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital renal unit and an associate professor at the Central Clinical School at the University of Sydney.

Both men have previously made headlines for throwing lavish parties at their former home in Woollahra, which attracted the whose who of Sydney identities including one-time state MP Gabrielle Upton, former MP Michael Yabsley, Indigenous leader Warren Mundine, Cr Sally Betts, stockbroker Mark Coppleson, former Australian of the Year Michelle Simmons, Sky News presenter Janine Perrett and social page regular Di Hamill and her millionaire meat king husband Ian.