Labor MP a public nuisance, banned from party precinct: police
First-term Mundingburra MP Les Walker and two other men clashed at Townsville’s Mad Cow Tavern.
Mr Walker says he cannot recall the bar incident.
Police today finalised their investigation into an incident in the early hours of January 16 that left Walker, 56, requiring hospital treatment.
Two men, aged 19 and 21, were banned from the Townsville Safe Night Precinct as a result. Police initially told a local newspaper than Walker had also been banned, before retracting that statement only to today confirm Walker indeed faced the same treatment.
“Following an investigation, all three men have today been issued with public nuisance infringement notices and the 56-year-old man has also been issued with a banning notice,” the Queensland Police Service said in a statement.
Walker had been celebrating his birthday at the establishment and was reportedly knocked out in a fight. He will have to pay a fine unless he chooses to fight the infringement notice.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had been tight-lipped on the incident, due to the ongoing police investigation, except to say he was recovering well. She did not comment today.
The Opposition has questioned what an MP was doing out at that hour.
Walker is a former local councillor and youth detention centre worker who has been a key voice in the debate over crime levels in north Queensland.
