Criminal Damage in Victoria holds maximum sentences of up to 10 years. This is a disturbing incident.
Anyone involved in an incident this aggressive should not be in Parliament.
We see this behaviour from offenders on ice, not leaders in the community. https://twitter.com/newbury3186/status/1154177678196396032 …
Victorian Labor MP Will Fowles questioned over hotel disturbance
By Samantha Hutchinson, Rob Harris and Judith Ireland
July 25, 2019 — 9.48amFirst-term Victorian Labor MP Will Fowles has been questioned by police over a disturbance at a Canberra hotel on Thursday morning.
Police were called to the Abode Hotel in Kingston after Mr Fowles had a disagreement with staff over access to his luggage.
Victorian Labor MP Will Fowles.
Photographs from the Abode Hotel show a door with substantial damage and indicate it might have been kicked in.
Patrons of the hotel say they were kept outside of the hotel for some time while police investigated the incident.
AdvertisementOne witness said they overheard a security guard calling for assistance and raised voices between Mr Fowles and the security guard.
When approached for comment by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday morning Mr Fowles would not comment on the incident but said he would make a statement later in the day.
Damage to the Abode Hotel in the Canberra suburb of Kingston.CREDIT:KELLIE SLOAN/TWITTER
The newly-elected Labor MP was in Canberra to support new federal MP and Jagajaga representative Kate Thwaites as she gave her first speech on Wednesday evening.
Mr Fowles was seen at celebratory drinks in Parliament House following new Victorian senator Raff Ciccone's introductory speech, which was also attended by senior Labor members including Penny Wong, Ed Husic and Kimberley Kitching.
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It is understood Mr Fowles, who was elected to the eastern Melbourne seat of Burwood last year, did not join the senator's group for dinner.
Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters early this morning he did not yet have any details on the incident.
“That’s probably something that we might need to deal with at a later point when the facts are much, much clearer,” Mr Andrews said.
But Victoria's Liberal opposition was quick to call for Mr Fowles' sacking, with the party's police spokesman Brad Battin tweeting about the "aggressive incident" in the Canberra hotel.
Advertisement"Criminal Damage in Victoria holds maximum sentences of up to 10 years," Mr Battin said.
"This is a disturbing incident. Anyone involved in an incident this aggressive should not be in Parliament."
Mr Fowles is a member of the wealthy Fowles family, which founded and owns the successful Fowles Auction Group.
Mr Fowles was last month accused by Victorian Liberal MP James Newbury of failing to pay workers' entitlements when his former Queensland pub went into receivership in 2015.
AdvertisementHe has also worked in communications, and was best known for nabbing a seat on the exclusive Melbourne Cricket Club committee. He was the MCC's youngest committee member in history.
If the property damage is valued at less than $5000, the maximum jail sentence in the ACT is two years, well below the five-year threshold that would see Mr Fowles removed from the Victorian Parliament if convicted.
But if the property damage exceeds $5000, the MP could be charged under the territory's criminal code with a maximum sentence of 10 years.
