James Hayward was a councillor at the City of Bunbury, state president of The Nationals WA from 2015 to 2019, and federal vice president of The Nationals Party of Australia from 2019 to 2021.
Following the 2021 WA state elections, Mr Hayward became the Shadow Minister for local government, water, and regional cities. He resigned from The Nationals WA in December 2021 following multiple charges of child sex abuse allegations that occurred earlier in the year, and was subsequently sentenced in October 2023 to 33 months in jail.
Mr Hayward has travelled extensively through regional WA, and had lived and worked across the state as a journalist for GWN7. He also spent a period of time as chief of staff for the busy Channel Seven Perth newsroom.
He was elected a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for the South West Region in 2021.
