Disgraced Liberal MP Daryl Maguire asking for privacy following a family matter
UNDER pressure Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has dodged questions about his future in politics, asking for privacy following the death of his son-in-law.
NSW
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DARYL Maguire has issued a statement this morning asking for privacy after the death of his son-in-law.
The disgraced Liberal MP said a member of his family has died and he is not currently in the Wagga Wagga electorate.
It his understood Mr Maguire’s son-in-law died of cancer.
Mr Maguire did not address the extreme pressure he is under to quit the seat but said he would not be commenting on the ICAC inquiry.
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“No further comment will be made by Daryl Maguire MP regarding the ongoing ICAC inquiry,” the statement said.
“A member of Mr Maguire’s immediate family has passed away and Mr Maguire has left the electorate to be with his family. Mr Maguire asks that he and his family be provided with some privacy at this time.”
Mr Maguire said it is “business as usual” for the Wagga Wagga electorate office.
The news comes as acting Labor leader Michael Daley said Labor will move a motion in parliament to expel Maguire.
Labor would need majority support for the motion to expel Mr Maguire.
“The people of Wagga are disgusted by Daryl Maguire — they are in no doubt he’s no longer fit to represent them,” Mr Daley said
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“Daryl Maguire has admitted to doing the wrong thing, he admitted to ICAC, he admitted it in his Facebook statement that he’s breached the Code of Conduct that applied to him … his only defence … for not doing the right thing (resigning) is he doesn’t want to put the people of NSW, the people of Wagga through a by election — let me tell you the people of Wagga would think that would be money well spent.”
Mr Daley said the Labor Party would prefer Mr Maguire quit parliament so they don’t have to move to expel him.
“(Expelling him) is a very serious thing to do — it’s only been done six times in the history of parliament and hasn’t been successfully moved since 1917. We have been thinking about this all week and wishing it would not come to this,” he said.
“It shouldn’t be up to the parliament to take out its own dirty laundry — it should be done by Daryl Maguire and Gladys Berejiklian.”
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Mr Daley said neither he or Labor Party staffers had spoken to the Nationals, independent MPs or the Greens about whether they will support the motion.
“We don’t do this lightly, it’s a heavy thing to do. But Daryl Maguire walking back into the parliament and sitting on the cross bench for the next nine months — that’s a serious thing as well. Someone has to move to protect the parliamentary democracy here and we will.”
Acting Premier John Barilaro has called on Mr Maguire to resign and indicated he expects the disgraced Liberal MP will quit politics before parliament resumes in August.
“It’s clear that the people of Wagga Wagga would like to see Daryl resign. Therefore, it’s clear, that Daryl Maguire should resign as a member of parliament,” Mr Barilaro said.
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The Nationals leader said if a by-election was held in Wagga Wagga there would be “discussions” about the Nationals running a candidate.
“The rules say we get to negotiate the position of the coalition about who would be best placed to run a candidate,” Mr Barilaro said.
He said the Nationals party was “best placed” to represent every regional seat.
He labelled a move by the Labor Party to expel Mr Maguire a “hypothetical”, indicating Mr Maguire may quit parliament before it returns on August 7.
“We won’t get to that point, we’ve got weeks until we get to parliament I’m very confident that we will not see a motion from the Labor Party,” he said.
Mr Barilaro said he’d spoken to Mr Maguire to check on his welfare.
Mr Barilaro said the Nationals would have to speak in party room to decide if they’d support Labor’s motion to expel Mr Maguire if it came to that point.