WA Labor media adviser Stephen Kaless on assault charge

Police have charged a once-­senior media adviser in the McGowan Labor government with indecent assault.

Former WA Labor senior media adviser Stephen Kaless

Police have charged a once-­senior media adviser in the McGowan Labor government with indecent assault.

Stephen Kaless was suspended and then resigned from his job with West Australian Treasurer Ben Wyatt after an ­office Christmas party on December 13.

In a statement emailed to newsrooms late on Wednesday, the WA Police media unit wrote: “Police have charged a man in relation to an incident in Perth on Friday 13 December 2019.

“It will be alleged the man was in the bar area of a hotel in Perth and indecently assaulted a woman who is in her 20s, and who is known to him.”

The Australian has confirmed the man police referred to in the media release was Mr Kaless, 44.

Mr Kaless was one of the McGowan government’s most experienced media advisers and his role was considered among the most senior because of his minister’s portfolios.

Mr Wyatt, the nephew of federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt, is the WA Treasurer as well as the state Minister for Finance, Aboriginal Affairs and Lands.

It is understood the assault is alleged to have occurred after people who attended the Christmas party left the original venue and went to a bar in West Perth.

In the days after the alleged assault, police reportedly went to the ministerial headquarters of the McGowan government to speak to a female employee.

She made a statement, The Australian has been told.

Mr Kaless had been Mr Wyatt’s media adviser since WA Labor came to power in March 2017. He had previously worked for WA Labor in opposition, for UnionsWA and as a newsroom chief of staff for Channel 7 in Perth.

Mr Kaless’s suspension became public just days before Mr Wyatt was to deliver the state’s mid-year economic review.

Mr Kaless is due to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on ­January 29.