Disgraced NSW Wagga MP Darryl Maguire will earn $13,755 a month until the next state election
DISGRACED former NSW Liberal MP Daryl Maguire will be paid $13,755 a month as he stubbornly refuses to quit a NSW seat until the election in March — despite claiming he is sticking around to save taxpayers money.
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DISGRACED former NSW Liberal MP Daryl Maguire will be paid $13,755 a month as he stubbornly refuses to quit the seat of Wagga Wagga until the election in March — despite claiming he is sticking around to save taxpayers money.
They will fork out $110,044 over the next eight months for Mr Maguire, who earns an annual base salary of $165,066. He also remains entitled to $11,555 for annual expenses, though his resignation from a role as parliamentary secretary did slash $21,459 from his salary.
Yesterday Mr Maguire declared he would stay in his seat until March but not recontest at the election.
“I won’t put the taxpayer through the cost of having a by-election,” he said in a video uploaded to his Facebook. “I think that unreasonable and I think it’s a cost the taxpayer doesn’t need.
“I breached a very strict code of conduct for parliamentary secretaries but I still can continue to work on behalf of the Wagga Wagga electorate.”
Last night it appeared Mr Maguire’s Facebook page — including the video — had been shut down.
Mr Maguire claims he intended to not stand again in the seat even before revelations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption last Friday that he sought a “dividend” over a property deal with a Chinese developer.
Mr Maguire was elected before 2007, when overly generous pollie super schemes were tightened, meaning he’s eligible to a pension for life.
This will equate to 48.8 per cent of his base salary — at least $80,552 a year — plus an extra allowance for serving beyond seven years.
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Last year, party room sources revealed Mr Maguire opposed Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s bid to strip corrupt former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald of their parliamentary pensions.
The Telegraph can also reveal Mr Maguire didn’t foot the bill for his lawyer at ICAC, instead successfully applying to the Department of Justice’s Secretary for help. It’s understood he applied about three weeks ago.
According to the Attorney-General’s rates for Legal Representation, a “Junior Counsel” lawyer — such as the one that represented Mr Maguire — costs $285 per hour with a daily maximum of $2140. It is standard practice for the government to foot the bill for MPs appearing at ICAC.
A spokesman for NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said he was not involved in approving legal costs for Mr Maguire.
Mr Maguire would be forced to repay the legal costs if he is convicted of an indictable offence. His spokeswoman yesterday denied the MP has broken the law saying: “He has only broken the code of conduct.” He is not the subject of any criminal charges.
A spokesman for Ms Berejklian said Mr Maguire first informed her he would appear before ICAC on July 5 when the witness list was published. “Mr Maguire told the Premier that the ICAC had advised him he would be appearing as a witness only and was not a subject of the investigation,” a spokesman said.