South Australian MP Nick McBride has appeared in court for the first time since being charged with assaulting his wife on three occasions. He has also addressed media for the first time since his arrest.
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00:00The independent MP walks into his local court almost a month after he was charged with assaulting his wife at a property in the state's southeast.
00:11Do you have a comment about these allegations?
00:13Nick McBride was charged with three counts of assault against his wife on April 10.
00:18Today, speaking for the first time, the local member for MacKillop said the court process will not affect his ability to serve his electorate.
00:26I want to make it clear that the court process has no impact on my primary role and that is I'm the member for MacKillop.
00:33My core focus is to represent and advocate for the people who live and work in this MacKillop electorate and it's my job I will continue to do that.
00:43But he said he will not comment on the charges themselves.
00:46This is a matter before the court. It's not appropriate for me to make any other further comment while this process continues.
00:53The charges against Mr McBride came after unrelated criminal allegations against several other former South Australian Liberal MPs, including Troy Bell, Fraser Ellis and ex-leader David Spears.
01:05During the minute-long hearing, Mr McBride's lawyer asked for the matter to be adjourned to next month and asked that her client be excused from attending in person so that he can take his seat in parliament.
01:16The request was granted and the 55-year-old's lawyer said she was asking for an adjournment so the parties could exchange information.
01:25Mr McBride was elected to the Liberal seat of MacKillop in the state's South East in 2018, but five years later he quit the party and has since sat on the crossbench.
01:35At the time, he blamed dark forces in the party and said it was controlled by factionalism.
01:41The father of two was also a grazier, with his family owning Konmura Station, 30 kilometres east of Robe in the state's South East since the 1930s.
01:51For now, the MP giving no indication if he'll be contesting the charges.
01:56The matter will return to court in six weeks.