A homosexual former suburban mayor has been jailed for three months for sexually assaulting a teenage boy at his home in Melbourne.
Cameron Nation, 42, who was City of Mooney Valley Mayor in 2020 and 2021 and served as councillor until abruptly resigning in 2024, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Nation pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child aged 16 or 17 under his care, supervision or authority, and in addition to the prison term was given an 18-month community correction order (CCO) on his release, and placed on the sex offender registry for eight years.
Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz also refused to extend a suppression order that had prevented media from revealing Nation’s identity since his first court appearance in December, after Nation’s defence lawyer Sam Norton asked for a two-year gag order on mental health grounds.
The court heard that Nation first met his victim while coaching swimming at aquatic centres in Melbourne’s north-west, when the boy was just eight or nine years old, The Age reported.
He went on to work for Nation as an assistant swim coach, and the pair began communicating privately after Nation congratulated him for “coming out” as a homosexual.
Nation then showed interest in taking him to a gay club to “show him the ropes”, and then then-36-year-old invited the boy, who was 17 at the time, to his home after he had been at a house party nearby.
The pair inhaled nitrous oxide in Nation’s living room, which the victim told police “made me feel really spaced out, like I had no control over my body”, and Nation then carried out the assault.
“I was not enjoying what he was doing. I did not know what to do. I felt like I had no control,” the victim told police.
Mr Norton and the prosecution both told the court a CCO was a suitable punishment, but Ms Mykytowycz said the offending was “serious” and “involved a breach of trust” of a vulnerable young person.
“[The assault] involved you violating the body … of the complainant for your own sexual gratification,” she told Nation.
“Ultimately, I am of the view that the only sentence that can be imposed is one which does involve a period of incarceration.”
Mr Norton, who earlier this month successfully had the incident downgraded to a summary offence with a reduced maximum sentence, said he would immediately launch an appeal, the Herald Sun reported.
In an apology letter to the victim tendered in court Nation said “I am extremely sorry and apologise unreservedly”, and blamed alcohol and drug consumption for being in an “unstable state”.
The former mayor previously avoided a conviction in 2022 for falsifying two claims for community swim grants by personally applying for $4,000 in federal funds on behalf of SwimAid and an LGBT support group, even though he had no affiliated with them.
He pleaded guilty and was given a two-year good behaviour bond.
Header image: Left, Cam Nation (City of Moonee Valley). Right, attending a drag queen story hour event in 2021 (Moonee Valley Libraries).
