Julia Gillard’s ex Tim Mathieson will plead guilty to nipple sucking incident after legal setback as magistrate rips into lawyer over court fail

Julia Gillard’s ex-boyfriend Tim Mathieson will plead guilty to sexual assault after he was charged for sucking the nipple of a woman without her consent.

Mathieson, 66, is accused of sexually touching the woman at Brunswick East in Melbourne’s inner-city on March 13 last year.

Mathieson – known during Ms Gillard’s reign as Australia’s ‘first bloke’ – appeared via videolink in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

His barrister Brad Penno asked for the matter to be adjourned to October 19 for a plea hearing, and indicated Mathieson would plead guilty to a single charge of sexual assault.

The 66-year-old was initially facing three charges, after he was charged with two counts of stalking amid accusations he entered a woman’s home without her permission.

Those two stalking charges, earlier revealed by Daily Mail Australia, were withdrawn by the prosecution.

Mr Penno had said in a previous court appearance he hoped to have Mathieson dealt with via the court’s diversion program.  

Under Victorian law, diversion plans are often handed down to first-time offenders and are designed not to impact on a person’s life going forward.

Under the diversion plan, Mathieson would not be required to formally plead to the charges and instead simply make admissions to the charged offences.

However, Mr Penno on Thursday said that had now been ‘taken off the table’, meaning Mathieson could receive a conviction.

There was a tense moment between Magistrate Andrew Sim and Mr Penno, who appeared via videolink, when the barrister said he was experiencing audio troubles.

Mr Sim said Mr Penno could either come into the courtroom in person or buy himself a cheap headset.

‘We’ve been living with the Covid pandemic for three years now, you can go get a cheap $30 headset,’ Mr Sim said.

No details of Mathieson’s offending were aired in court on Thursday, with the matter to return in October.

The charge stated Mathieson ‘intentionally sexually touched [the victim] by sucking her nipple without her consent in circumstances where the accused did not reasonably believe that [the victim] consented to the touching.’ 

Mathieson met Ms Gillard when he was working as a hairdresser in 2004 and the pair became an item two years later. 

Mathieson met Ms Gillard when he was working as a hairdresser in 2004 and the pair became an item two years later

After Ms Gillard became Prime Minister in 2010, the pair became the first unmarried couple to live at The Lodge until she was toppled in a leadership spill in 2013.

Mathieson frequently accompanied Ms Gillard on engagements within Australia and on her official overseas trips.

Ms Gillard revealed in early 2022 she and Mr Mathieson had split up some time earlier. 

Despite Mathieson declaring in 2011 that he wished to wed Ms Gillard, the couple never married. 

No details of Mathieson’s offending were aired in court on Thursday, with the matter to return in October