Kelly in court over mask fail charge

THE former federal MP for Hughes, who has been outspoken on Covid restrictions and vaccine mandates, has appeared in court after he allegedly did not wear a face mask in breach of Covid rules.

Craig Kelly (pictured) lost his job on Saturday when he failed to secure enough votes in the federal election and will not be returning to parliament.

The 58-year-old faced Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday after he was charged with failing to comply with a directive to wear a face covering.

Documents tendered to court said Kelly was spoken to by police on September 17 last year about 10.40am at Prices Circuit, Woronora. He allegedly breached the Public Health Act and was issued with a future court attendance notice for November 12 last year.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the allegation and will defend himself at a hearing listed for February 20 next year at Sutherland Local Court.

The hearing is expected to take 90 minutes and Kelly will give evidence, as will potentially one other witness, he told the courtroom.

The prosecution will have one witness giving evidence.

The controversial former MP sensationally left the Liberal Party and joined the United Australia Party, becoming its leader in February 2021. He has been widely outspoken on Covid vaccine mandates and made it a key election promise to end them if the UAP was elected to government.

However, the man who Clive Palmer touted as “Australia’s next prime minister” now seems politically finished after election results came pouring in on Saturday night. Kelly was forced to concede his seat to Liberal candidate Jenny Ware after holding it for 12 years. He secured only 6177 votes, which was 7.46 per cent.

“The reality is it is very hard to get people to shift away from the major parties,” he said on Saturday night.