Stephen Kaless sues WA Premier, Treasurer and other WA Government staff after indecent assault acquittal

An ex-media advisor to the McGowan Government has launched a defamation case against the Premier, the Treasurer Ben Wyatt and seven other staff members.

Stephen Kaless, Mr Wyatt’s former senior media adviser, resigned after he was accused of indecently assaulting a female colleague at a drunken Christmas function in 2019.

In August, Mr Kaless was found not guilty of putting his hand up the woman’s dress and underwear and touching her bare bottom.

Mr Kaless filed the writ in WA’s Supreme Court yesterday accusing the group — including the female colleague who made the complaint — of “conspiring” against him.

The writ alleges Premier Mark McGowan of making a “grossly and falsely defamatory” media statement about him in December last year.