Victorian Labor MP Will Fowles arrested over sexual assault allegations

Will Fowles’ arrest relates to an investigation into sexual assault allegations which were first referred to Victoria Police by the office of then-premier Daniel Andrews.

Will Fowles in Victorian Parliament on Thursday 3rd August, the day after the alleged sexual assault. Picture: supplied.

Disgraced Victorian Labor MP Will Fowles has been arrested and interviewed over allegations he sexually assaulted a state government employee.

Mr Fowles was forced to resign from the parliamentary Labor Party in early August, at the request of then-premier Daniel Andrews’s office, following allegations that he was involved in the “serious” assault. He remains a member of the wider Labor Party.

In September he announced he would not attend parliamentary sittings until the conclusion of a police investigation, which was initiated following a referral from the premier’s office.

On Tuesday, Victoria Police confirmed Mr Fowles had earlier this month been arrested, interviewed and released without charge as part of their ongoing investigation.

“Detectives from the Sexual Crimes Squad executed a warrant at a Ringwood address on 12 October as part of an ongoing investigation into an incident in the Melbourne CBD,” police said in response to questions from The Australian.

“A 45-year-old Ringwood man was arrested at the property and interviewed by police. He was released without charge pending further inquiries.

“As the investigation is ongoing and given the sensitive nature of the matter, we will not be commenting further at this time.”

Mr Fowles, who represents Ringwood in Melbourne’s outer east, has “strenuously” denied the allegation of assault and described his resignation as “a situation I expect will be temporary”.

Will Fowles and Daniel Andrews in a picture from Fowles’s Facebook from October 2022. Source: Facebook

The allegations against Mr Fowles are believed to relate to an incident alleged to have occurred at a city hotel.

The female alleged victim is understood to have also been interviewed by police.

Mr Fowles had been drinking at the bar in state parliament prior to the alleged assault.

A complaint was first made to the Premier’s office on August 3, prompting an internal investigation which culminated in the referral to police, and the request for Mr Fowles to resign, on August 5.

Mr Fowles has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. His office has been contacted for comment regarding the arrest.

“I was shocked and distressed to learn last night that an allegation of assault has been made against me,” Mr Fowles said the day after resigning.

“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.”

In 2019 Mr Fowles took leave from parliament and sought counselling for mental health and addiction issues after kicking in a Canberra hotel room door.

Despite the 2019 incident, the MP was saved from political oblivion last year, when the ALP preselected him to replace resigning Dustin Halse in the seat of Ringwood, after Mr Fowles’s previous seat of Burwood was abolished in a redistribution.