Michael Johnsen resigns from NSW Parliament after sexting allegations

GONE: Michael Johnsen is seen playing with his phone just moments after he texted a sex worker telling her he had a ‘h**d on’ over a topless photo she sent him

A male MP has resigned his seat after video emerged of him allegedly sexting from the floor of Parliament and messages showed he apparently offered to pay $1,000 for sex in his office. 

Michael Johnsen quit as MP for the NSW electorate of Upper Hunter on Wednesday amid tawdry claims about his ‘disgusting behaviour’, revealed in messages he appears to have sent a sex worker.

In a lengthy statement, Johnsen vehemently denied claims he raped that same woman in an alleged encounter at a Blue Mountains lookout in 2019, which police are investigating.

‘I will fight the allegation and expect to have my name cleared, as it just didn’t happen.’  

He didn’t directly address the publication of hundreds of his text messages with the sex worker, but said he had been ‘harassed’ by unprofessional media outlets and that ‘I am an imperfect human being and I own that.’  

Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro had called for Johnsen’s resignation after the ABC this week published sordid texts between the MP and the unnamed woman.

Mr Barilaro was the first to announce that Johnsen – already suspended from the National Party – had fallen on his sword. 

‘Today I welcome Mr Johnsen’s resignation from the NSW Parliament,’ Mr Barilaro said. 

‘My message to the people of the Upper Hunter is I will always put integrity before politics, which is why I called for Mr Johnsen’s resignation. I want to say to the communities of the Upper Hunter that I am sorry.’

Johnsen resigned his seat ‘effective immediately’ in a one line email to the Speaker at 11.56am.  The move will trigger a byelection for his seat and leaves Gladys Berejiklian’s Coalition government without a parliamentary majority, at least for now. 

Labor MP Trish Doyle rocked Parliament last Wednesday when she claimed, under parliamentary privilege, that a sex worker had met an unnamed MP in 2019 following an advertisement on a classifieds website. 

Ms Doyle revealed that the woman had gone to police last year to allege that she had been raped by the MP during a paid encounter in the Blue Mountains. 

She told Parliament that the politician had paid $200 for oral sex but the woman alleged he had gone further than that. 

Johnsen later outed himself as the parliamentarian in question in order to strongly deny the allegation.   

He was suspended from the his party and moved to the crossbench. 

However, the scandal only worsened on Tuesday when the ABC published scandalous text messages between Johnsen and the sex worker.

The broadcaster revealed that on September 24, 2019, the woman reportedly texted Johnsen a topless photo while he was sitting in the Legislative Assembly.

Johnsen replied: ‘Hmmm … not fair. I’m sitting in the chamber with a h**d on now! Xxx’.’

Parliamentary video obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows Johnsen playing with phone just three minutes after that text was allegedly received by the woman. 

A bombshell ABC report has alleged that Nationals MP Michael Johnsen sent a series of lewd messages to a sex worker from the floor of New South Wales state parliament. He last week denied an allegation he sexually assaulted a sex worker in the Blue Mountains in September 2019 

Two days later, on September 26, Johnsen reportedly texted her: ‘I’m in QT (Question Time) and f*** I’m horny and want you so bad – need you. 

‘I want you and can’t wait to f*** you over and over again.’ 

At one point, he sent her a video of a man masturbating in a toilet cubicle to a picture of the sex worker. 

In a separate and earlier message, Johnsen apparently suggested that the pair have sex in his parliamentary office, after he sat through a Budget estimates hearing.  

‘My PH office could be fun … come to the Jubilee Room and wait for me there,’ he allegedly said.

However, that sordid encounter never went ahead. And he is no longer able to call that office his own.  

How parliamentary sex scandal came to light 

Blue Mountains MP Ms Doyle last week rocked State Parliament by claiming an unnamed male government MP had allegedly raped a sex worker at a secluded bush lookout, after paying her $200 for oral sex.

Ms Doyle recalled how the woman had responded to an advertisement on the website Locanto seeking a specific sex service, and the couple met at Yellow Rock Lookout.

‘She had been clear with her client from the outset about what she was willing to do with him, and what she was unwilling to do,’ Ms Doyle said. 

‘She tells me she made herself clear that she was not willing to have penetrative sex with him, however towards the end the man moved around behind her and assaulted her in a way she had not consented to.

Trish Doyle (pictured in parliament last Wednesday afternoon) rocked NSW Parliament by claiming a male government MP allegedly raped a sex worker at a secluded bush lookout after paying her $200 for oral sex

‘In her emails to me she said that once the assault began she just wanted it to finish. 

‘It was an assault, and it was against her explicit instructions, she did not consent, it was rape.’

Ms Doyle told Parliament the woman is ‘hurt and angry this powerful man felt entitled to assault her’. 

‘She remains fearful that this powerful man will seek reprisals against her for reporting this rape,’ she added. 

Johnsen allegedly suggested the pair have sex in his parliamentary office. Above, NSW State Parliament on Macquarie St 

Johnsen later outed himself as the man accused in order to firmly deny the allegation. 

‘I am devastated by these allegations,’ he said in a statement.

‘I am confident any investigation will conclude that I am an innocent party.

‘Without admission, I have chosen to step aside from my Parliamentary Secretary role, and will not sit in the Nationals Party Room nor the Joint Party Room.

‘I will be taking leave effective immediately for a short duration.

‘As the matter is with the NSW Police I will make no further public comment.’

On Wednesday, he branded the use of parliamentary privilege to attack him as an attempt to ‘politically and personally damage me outside of the due process already underway’ 

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