Both major parties want to expel Ward from parliament after he was convicted, but the Kiama MP has engaged lawyers from his prison cell

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New South Wales politicians are facing a potential constitutional showdown with the state’s supreme court over parliament’s attempt to expel local MP and convicted rapist Gareth Ward.

The Minns government was seeking an urgent hearing in the supreme court on Tuesday with a view to lifting an ex parte injunction granted the previous day to Ward. It prevented parliament, for now, from moving to expel the member for Kiama.