The resignation of Johnathan Davis from the ACT Legislative Assembly and the ACT Greens has left his colleagues “shellshocked”, party leader Shane Rattenbury said. ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals have questioned the Greens’ handling of allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against Mr Davis.

Mr Davis, 31, was stood down last week while police investigated allegations that he had had inappropriate sexual relations with a then-17-year-old – which is legal, age of consent in the ACT being 16 – and a 15-year-old.

No 15-year-old has been identified, Mr Rattenbury said; he had no information confirming any illegal conduct by Mr Davis; and Mr Davis had indicated to him that he did not believe he had done anything illegal.

But on Sunday, Mr Davis informed Mr Rattenbury that he would resign.

“There has been no finding about Johnathan by any authorities,” Mr Rattenbury said. “The intimate information that has been alleged about his personal life has caused immense community concern and distress to him, and the ACT Greens party supports his decision to resign from office.”

It was an unfortunate end to a promising political career. Smart, personable, and passionate about social and economic inequality, Mr Davis had been a popular member for Brindabella, and ACT Greens spokesperson for education, health, drug harm reduction, business, the nighttime economy, LGBTIQA+ affairs, sport and recreation, tourism and events, young people, and the elimination of family and domestic violence.

Comments on the Reddit sub r/Canberra earlier this year, for instance, spoke highly of him: “He’s the goods”; “a great guy”; and “excellent”. On another thread five months ago, discussing the best local MLAs, Mr Davis was described as “very impressive”; and “very active and very engaged with the community. A huge improvement on some of the others that make an appearance every 3 years.” Mr Rattenbury himself had even at one point imagined that Mr Davis, “an eager young man with lots of energy”, could one day become chief minister of the ACT.

The ACT Electoral Commission will hold a countback process to determine who will be elected to Mr Davis’s seat. The most likely candidate is Laura Nuttall (ACT Greens).

“Mr Davis is very distressed, and he is receiving considerable support from family and friends at this time,” Mr Rattenbury said.

The investigation and its findings

Emma Davidson MLA was notified on Monday 30 October – a week before Mr Rattenbury – that rumours were circulating about Mr Davis engaging in inappropriate behaviour with people between the ages of 15 and 17, a report released today states. At that point, the rumours could not be substantiated, and no-one had made any specific accusations.

The following Monday, 6 November, Mr Davis, who had been away from Canberra, was made aware of the accusations.

On Tuesday, Mr Rattenbury ordered his senior advisor to conduct an internal review to establish the facts of the allegations, and to report to him by Friday.

“Because Mr Davis was an out, proud and sex-positive gay man – with a strong community presence, … we needed to ensure that we had facts around this case, and … we could not act on rumour alone,” the report stated. “We wanted to ensure both that he received natural justice and that were the rumour to be baseless, he did not have his public reputation tarnished or questioned.”

An 18-year-old, who had been in an intimate relationship with Mr Davis, told Mr Rattenbury’s senior advisor that Mr Davis was well-known in Canberra’s gay community for his preference for younger people; the 31-year-old politician had set age filters on the gay dating app Grindr to meet and have sex with 18- and 19-year-old men.

The man claimed that Mr Davis was aware he was under 18, as he shared a COVID certificate with his date of birth. He did not, however, consider himself a victim, and emphasised that all activity with Mr Davis had been consensual. He alleged they exchanged flirtatious and sexual texts; and met for sex several times, including at Mr Davis’s home.

He contended that Mr Davis had been persistent across various platforms, and drew parallels to cases like Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann, suggesting potential abuses of power. He hinted at the possibility that several young men might make similar allegations.

The advisor concluded: “Mr Davis has undertaken activity which may be considered unethical and inappropriate, which does not align with community expectations, and is likely to bring himself and the ACT Greens into disrepute.”

Mr Rattenbury’s advisor reported the matter to police on Friday 10 November, because it was not clear to him whether illegal conduct had occurred: possibly intimate images had been exchanged with a child younger than 18, and it had been alleged that Mr Davis had other relationships with children younger than 16.

“No such person has come forward, and we have not been able to find an evidence that such an interaction took place,” Mr Rattenbury said. “There has not been any person come forward to me who has said they were 15 years at the time of any sexual interactions with Johnathan, but other people have raised concerns that they believe that did occur.”

Mr Rattenbury said the only instance of sexual misconduct by Mr Davis of which he was aware was a relationship with a staffer a couple of years ago, which the party leader considered unacceptable.

Mr Rattenbury said that Greens MLAs had agreed at the start of this term not to tolerate, condone, or ignore behaviour or allegations, including those of a sexual nature, that were not consistent with earning and maintaining the respect and support of the people elected into office.

But the news has angered some. “You should be ashamed of yourself for this blatant homophobic attitude,” one Canberran commented on Mr Rattenbury’s Facebook post. “If it had been a female named he would be a hero. That is his personal business and by your own words not illegal. You have lost my membership and vote.”

Other political parties

ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals have been dubious about the Greens’ handling of the matter.

“There is plenty of frustration in the community, and amongst my ACT Labor colleagues, on how these serious allegations have been handled throughout this week,” Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry said on Sunday night.

“Canberrans need confidence that allegations of this nature, no matter the profile of the people involved, will be handled sensitively. There are many questions that I have, that the ACT Labor caucus has, and that the community will likely have on how this episode was handled by the ACT Greens throughout the past week.”

Speaker Joy Burch might hold an investigation.

Mr Rattenbury said he was “dismayed” by Ms Berry’s “highly inappropriate” remarks; he had spoken to her twice on Sunday, “giving her ample opportunity to raise questions”, while not one Labor caucus member had contacted Mr Rattenbury about Mr Davis the entire weekend.

“To try and create a political advantage out of the most difficult and most sensitive issue my party has ever faced reflects very poorly,” Mr Rattenbury said.

Rebecca Vassarotti MLA, one of three Greens ministers, said Labor’s politicisation of the matter could affect how the shared government moved forward.

The Canberra Liberals, meanwhile, have called for an independent investigation into how the Greens handled the allegations. Opposition leader Elizabeth Lee said Mr Rattenbury must reveal whether the allegations included potential criminal activity; and why the Greens did not take the allegations to the police immediately. At that point, Mr Rattenbury had not yet released the report.

“There are still a lot of question marks around the timeframe, the timeline, and who knew what and when, and what action was taken when these serious allegations came to light,” Ms Lee said.

“There’s no doubt that the Canberra community have a lot of questions, and they have the right to know [how] the ACT’s Attorney-General … handled these very serious allegations.”

Mr Rattenbury said the timeframe had been fast but allowed in depth consideration of the matters and gathering of information.

“I stand by our approach of taking a couple of days to try and understand the situation, consider our responsibilities, and balance the various pressures and competing obligations that were placed upon us,” he said.

Both ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals have expressed concern that the 18-year-old in question provided information to the media.

“It’s troubling to know that the individuals involved felt it necessary to go public with their experiences to get action,” Ms Berry said. “I’m sorry that they have had to go through this ordeal in such a public way.”

Likewise, Ms Lee said: “What is also concerning are reports that those involved have had to go public due to inaction by the ACT Greens when these serious allegations were first raised.”

The Greens had been in contact with the young man since the staffer met him on Tuesday, Mr Rattenbury said. The Greens leader said he was “sad they felt that they needed to do that… We had communicated clearly to them [the young man] that we were taking it seriously and that we were undertaking this process of internal review to try and better understand the circumstances.”

Both Labor and Liberals welcomed Mr Davis’s resignation.

“His position had clearly become untenable,” Ms Berry said.

“We’re not privy to what potential criminal activity has occurred,” Ms Lee said. “But there is no doubt that there is a higher bar when it comes to conduct and behaviour that the Canberra community expect from their elected representatives. And from what we have heard about these serious allegations – and they are indeed very serious – it is right that Mr Davis has now resigned from the ACT Legislative Assembly…

“There’s no doubt that this has sent shockwaves through the entire Assembly. Despite the fact that we are on different sides of the chamber, as you will, we do tend to work together, and to hear allegations of this nature levelled at any MLA is shocking.”