Local government On
27 March 2004, Ward was elected to the
Shoalhaven City Council as an
independent councillor representing the northern parts of Shoalhaven. He was re-elected on 13 September 2008 and became deputy mayor in the same month. Ward was a councillor on
Shoalhaven City Council from 2004 until 2012.
Liberal MP On 12 April 2010, Ward was preselected as the Liberal candidate for Kiama. It was reported that he gained preselection in a 20–12 vote against the previous candidate,
Ann Sudmalis. At the 2011 state election, Ward was elected with a swing of 19.4 points and won the seat with 57.5 per cent of the vote on a two-party basis. Ward's main opponent was the incumbent sitting Labor member and former Minister,
Matt Brown. In April 2015, Ward was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra and South Coast after Premier
Mike Baird abolished the former position of
Minister for the Illawarra. In March 2017, Ward was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary for Education. Ward retained his existing responsibilities as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra and South Coast. Ward served as Parliamentary Secretary for Education, in addition to his role as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra and South Coast from 2017 until 2019. In September 2017 Ward claimed to have been the target of an attempted mugging in New York City while staying at the Intercontinental Hotel. Ward claimed to have booked a male masseur for a massage, which was reported as a "special massage". In conflicting reports, it was claimed he "called a phone number provided by an acquaintance", but others maintained that he ordered "the massage online from an outside service". When two men turned up and announced that both of them were minors, Ward told them to leave. He then claimed the duo became aggressive and demanded US$1000 before they would leave. While luring the men down to the lobby under the guise of retrieving money from an ATM, Ward alerted hotel staff and the men fled. CCTV images were circulated but no arrests have been made. In September 2018, Ward was described in federal parliament by his fellow Liberal colleague,
Ann Sudmalis, as leading a campaign of "bullying, betrayal and backstabbing" against her while she was a representative. The allegations were expanded to include branch stacking of local Liberal branches, and installing people hostile to Sudmalis on her electoral committee. She described his determination as to "annihilate anyone who opposed him" with his motivation being "Gareth's narcissistic revenge". Sudmalis went on to accuse him of misogynistic behaviour and raised several examples of where he had actively opposed and campaigned against female Liberals on the South Coast. Following the
2019 state election Ward was appointed as
Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services in the Second Berejiklian ministry.
Independent In February 2023 he announced that he would be contesting his seat as an independent at the
2023 state election, "to stand up for the principles and values that are worth fighting for". Ward was narrowly elected as an independent in the
2023 New South Wales state election, suffering a 10.7% swing against him. The NSW government decided to follow the advice of parliament's privileges and ethics committee not to extend Ward's suspension into his new term. In July 2024, Ward arrived at Parliament House at 4am to retrieve his spare house keys after locking himself out of his apartment at
Potts Point. He denied being drunk or wearing only underwear. Premier
Chris Minns asked for a full explanation. On 5 August 2025, Ward was granted an
injunction that prevented the
New South Wales Parliament from trying to expel him from the
Legislative Assembly. The injunction order was revoked following an appeal by the state government. On 8 August 2025, shortly before an expulsion vote in the Legislative Assembly, Ward resigned from his position as member for Kiama, triggering a
by-election for the seat. == Sexual abuse charges ==