Ben Dawkins vows to be sworn in ‘next Thursday’ as Labor’s replacement for Alannah MacTiernan

Ben Dawkins — the Legislative Council replacement for retired minister Alannah MacTiernan — has vowed he will be sworn into Parliament next week.

Mr Dawkins, who has previously pleaded guilty to 42 domestic violence offences, is attempting to have those guilty pleas overturned — and is facing being kicked out of the Labor party as a result.

The embattled lawyer was Labor’s fifth-spot candidate on the ticket for the South West region and won a recount on Monday night confirming he was the winner of the Legislative Council seat.

The vacancy was created by the retirement of Ms MacTiernan, ending a political career that spanned five decades.

Her seat would have gone to the party’s fourth place candidate — John Mondy — but Mr Mondy turned down the opportunity to instead focus on his small business in Bunbury.

Mr Dawkins told The West on Thursday that he would be sworn in “next Thursday”, but insisted he had already started working as an MP.

“My roles and responsibilities, they all started on Monday night,” he said.

But Mr Dawkins declined to elaborate on what specific duties as an MP he was already performing ahead of his swearing-in.

“I’m not going to get into that. I’m just getting my foot in the door. I don’t even have a desk,” Mr Dawkins said.

The Legislative Council clerk told The West they could not confirm the proposed swearing-in date of March 30 at this stage “but if that is Mr Dawkins’ preference we will accommodate it”.

Mr Dawkins’ bid to retract his guilty pleas was delayed on Monday for two weeks in the Fremantle Magistrates Court.

Despite being an employment lawyer by trade, he said he “did not know the consequences of his guilty pleas” in an affidavit filed with the court.

The Labor party has moved to expel Mr Dawkins from the party, with the Premier claiming this week he was “never expected to be elected”.

“Well, he was number five on the ticket he was never expected to be elected in any event. He’s been suspended. We’ll continue to move to expel him,” Mark McGowan said.

“Since the election in March 2021 these issues about court appearances and so forth, are coming to light. They didn’t exist when he was pre-selected.”