Former Australian Capital Territory attorney-general and Labor MP Gordon Ramsay has been charged with grooming a teenage boy.
Mr Ramsay, 61, was arrested on Wednesday night and appeared before the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday charged with encouraging a young person to commit an act of a sexual nature in relation to an office that allegedly occurred between January 2022 and December 2024.
His lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith entered a not guilty plea on his client’s behalf, and Magistrate Alexandra Burt granted bail on the condition Mr Ramsay surrender his passport, stay in the ACT, not contact the victim or be in the company of anyone under 25, and not use or access encrypted messaging apps, The Canberra Times reported.
The court heard Mr Ramsay, an ordained Uniting Church Minister, first came to police attention in April after an anonymous tip-off, and that the alleged victim was interviewed by police in September.
Police said they were concerned Mr Ramsay could interfere with evidence or intimidate witnesses if granted bail, and told the court a folder of material that allegedly contained intimate images had allegedly been deleted, ABC News reported.
Mr Kukulies-Smith also told the court that problems may arise because a number of court staff, including several magistrates and judges, had been appointed by Mr Ramsay while he was attorney-general.
Magistrate Burt said she would raise the issue of concern about apprehension of bias with the court.
Mr Ramsay was Labor Member of the Legislative Assembly for Ginninderra between 2016 and 2020, and served as attorney-general until losing his seat.
He was then appointed CEO of the Cultural Facilities Corporation in 2021, overseeing the the Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra Museum and Gallery, and the development of the new Lyric Theatre.
In 2020 Mr Ramsay cried in parliament after the ACT passed a law he championed banning homosexual “conversion therapy”. He also introduced a bill forcing all adults to report child sex abuse, requiring priests to break the confessional seal.
On his X account Mr Ramsay has numerous posts signalling support for left-wing causes, including in support of “Wear it Purple Day”, Diwali, Kamala Harris, “believing women”, and aboriginal land claims.
He shared news stories about a homosexual high school captain, a religious discrimination bill and “transgender” people and homosexual “marriages”, boasted about getting vaccinated against Covid-19, and shared photos of himself appearing to officiate a homosexual “marriage” while wearing a rainbow scarf.
Header image: Mr Ramsay breaks down after the “gay conversion” ban was passed (ACT Parliament).
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