A former West Australian Nationals MP has had his convictions for sexually abusing a young girl set aside and will face a retrial. James Hayward now wants to be reinstated to state parliament and have the opportunity to deliver his valedictory speech under parliamentary privilege.
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00:00The court's decision on the former MP sinking in.
00:06Mr Haywood has appealed his conviction, he's been granted a retrial and I will not be making
00:12any comments in relation to that process.
00:14Mr Haywood was not initially charged until after he took his seat in Parliament in May
00:192021.
00:21He refused to resign but the National Party immediately suspended him, meaning he sat
00:26in the Upper House as an Independent.
00:28He was automatically disqualified from Parliament after his conviction.
00:33In a statement released after his successful appeal, Mr Haywood said the court's decision
00:37indicated it agreed with him that he had not received a fair trial and there had been a
00:42miscarriage of justice.
00:45Mr Haywood said he was thankful and relieved and he again maintained his innocence, saying
00:50he was looking forward to receiving a fair trial in the future.
00:53The former MP wants to return to Parliament.
00:56He says now that his convictions have been set aside, he should be reinstated and given
01:00the opportunity to make a valedictory speech under the protections of parliamentary privilege.
01:06That's a matter for the Parliament, not a matter for the Government and the presiding
01:11officers will make rulings in relation to all those matters.
01:15Mr Haywood says he's written to Parliament on the matter but Parliament says it's yet
01:19to receive any correspondence from him.
01:22The Nationals are standing by their decision to suspend Mr Haywood from the party.