Ringwood MP Will Fowles resigns after alleged sexual assault

A witness has described Ringwood MP Will Fowles’ behaviour as “super sleazy” in parliament’s members’ bar in the lead up to an alleged assault on a female staff member.

Labor MP Will Fowles was acting erratically inside state parliament’s members’ bar, according to sources, before an alleged sexual assault on a female government employee.

But Mr Fowles, who resigned from the Labor Party on Saturday, denied the assault allegation, saying he expects his resignation to be “temporary”.

Witnesses in parliament said of Mr Fowles’ behaviour in the bar on Wednesday prior to the alleged incident: “He was super sleazy.”

A source said the staffer, who is also a friend of Premier Daniel Andrews, had been with Mr Fowles throughout the time he was at the bar.

Will Fowles in parliament the day after the alleged assault.

Sources described him being “rude” and “erratic”.

A Spring St insider who saw him on Thursday morning said of Mr Fowles: “He looked like absolute s***. Greasy, red, wrecked.”

At one point, it is claimed the MP pulled a can of gin and tonic out of his pocket because he was frustrated at the time it was taking him to be served.

Sources also suggested Mr Fowles’ relationship with second wife Jessica had recently broken down.

Mr Fowles, who has four children, has previously been open about his struggles with depression and anxiety.

Will Fowles and Daniel Andrews in a picture from Mr Fowles’ Facebook page.

The member for Ringwood resigned on Saturday after the Premier’s office referred the alleged sexual assault to police.

In a statement on his Facebook page on Sunday, Mr Fowles “strenuously” denied the allegation.

“I was shocked and distressed to learn last night that an allegation of assault has been made against me,” the statement read.

“The details of the claim have not been put to me. I strenuously deny any allegation of assault. It is not true. There was no assault.

“I was asked to stand aside as a member of the Parliamentary Labor Party, a situation I expect will be temporary.

“I will fully co-operate with any process or enquiries.

“I remain a committed Member of parliament and of the Australian Labor Party. My focus remains on representing my local community to the best of my abilities.

“I will not be making further comment until such time as I am cleared.”

Mr Fowles and his wife Jess. Picture: Michael Klein.

Mr Andrews on Sunday would not confirm the nature of the alleged assault or if it took place inside parliament but said it was a “very serious matter”.

He said the incident was “completely different” to when Mr Fowles flew into a rage and smashed in the bottom half of a door at a Canberra hotel in 2019.

“It is allegedly very much more serious, and totally a different nature than what occurred (in Canberra),” Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews said it took two days for a complaint to be made to police to allow time for his office to make inquiries and a chance to speak to the alleged victim to ensure their wishes were followed.

“We did everything that could be done to protect that person and their wishes,” he said.

“This has been handled very quickly, properly though, not in haste.”

Mr Andrews, who was off work sick last week, said his office was informed of the alleged assault on Thursday afternoon before he was personally informed on Friday afternoon.

He said inquiries were made on Friday before his staff had a face-to-face with the alleged victim on Saturday afternoon.

“Mr Fowles was (then) called in and informed that we had referred the matter to Victoria Police,” he said.

Mr Fowles addresses the media at Melbourne Airport after the Canberra incident. Picture: Mark Stewart

“His resignation was sought, it was received moments later, and a statement went out just a little bit (after) that.”

The Premier said the alleged victim had been offered the government’s full support and remained in regular contact with them.

He added he considered parliament to be a “safe place” in his 21 years as an MP, but noted his experience was not the same for everybody.

“I’m acutely conscious that as a bloke of a certain age, holding a certain position … my experience of that building, in that precinct, may be wildly different to what a lot of other people have experienced over a long period of time,” he said.

Mr Andrews said it was a matter for Mr Fowles whether he would resign from parliament.

It is unclear if Mr Fowles has resigned as chair of the parliament’s electoral matters committee, or whether he intends to remain in parliament as an independent.

Its understood the alleged incident is not the only complaint to have been made about Mr Fowles in recent weeks.

A resignation from parliament would force a by-election in Ringwood, the neighbouring electorate to Warrandyte which will go to the polls later this month.

Labor won the seat at last year’s state election with 57.5 per cent of the two party preferred vote.

Mr Fowles campaigning before last year’s state election. Picture: Mark Stewart

But Mr Fowles picked up just 39.02 per cent of primary votes, compared to the Liberal Party’s 33.81 per cent.

A strong result in the Warrandyte by-election could bolster the Liberal Party’s chances of taking Ringwood from Labor if it could capitalise on the momentum of a by-election win.

In 2019 Mr Fowles was questioned by police after he flew into a rage and smashed in the bottom half of a door at a Canberra hotel.

The MP said at the time that he had been dealing with “addiction and other mental health issues”.

He later told the Herald Sun he had privately been battling mental health issues for 15 years, which included self medicating.

But his life spiralled out of control after being elected to the Andrews government in November 2018.

“Many of my colleagues have worked in professional politics before becoming a parliamentarian, I haven’t and there was much that was new to me and I haven’t coped particularly well with elements of that,” he said at the time.

“There was a pattern of behaviour where clearly there were some problems.”

Not realising the extent of his issues Mr Fowles’ world came crashing down during the now infamous violent outburst at the Canberra hotel.