Gladys Berejiklian: ICAC hears officials kept in dark over Daryl Maguire grant
A former top Berejiklian aide has told the ICAC that former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire would tell her staff to “get the effing thing sorted” as he hurried the project along.
NSW
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Daryl Maguire met with his secret partner Gladys Berejiklian while she was Treasurer to push for millions of dollars for a shooting club, recently unsealed documents show.
It’s also been claimed by a former top Berejiklian aide that the former Wagga Wagga MP would tell her staff to “get the effing thing sorted” as he hurried the project along.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian, while Treasurer in 2016, acted properly in handling a grant application by Maguire.
Maguire had been pushing the Office of Sport and other bureaucrats to hand over millions for a clay target shooting centre in his electorate.
The ICAC, on Tuesday afternoon, released a trove of emails and a transcript of an interview the watchdog conducted with a former top staffer in Ms Berejiklian’s Treasury.
Zach Bentley, speaking to the ICAC in April this year, said Ms Berejiklian never raised that she may have a conflict with Maguire when the shooting club grant application came across her desk.
Rather, Mr Bentley said, she was “amenable” to his lobbying efforts.
Mr Bentley said he could not recall any specific representations Maguire made to the Treasury but a note he had written in 2016 spoke about a “meeting” between the Wagga MP and Ms Berejiklian.
“The issue came to a head during a discussion I’ve had with Daryl last week prior to him meeting with you.” Mr Bentley wrote in November 2016 as the shooting club was going through the funding approval process.
Mr Bentley told the ICAC, during his April 2021 interview, that he had no memory of the specific meeting but Office of Sport officials were “urgently” tasked with putting the application together.
Office of Sport director Michael Toohey, the ICAC has previously heard, was given just one day’s notice to put a draft together for the club’s grant application to cabinet’s expenditure review committee (ERC).
The orders landed on his desk the same week Maguire appears to have met with Ms Berejiklian.
“Daryl would be quite, at times, abrupt and call you … to the effect of ‘Mate, Stuart’s office is holding up’ whatever proposal,” Mr Bentley told the ICAC.
“Get the effing thing sorted … ‘I really need this for my electorate’,” he said, quoting Maguire.
Mr Bentley later specified “Stuart” was a reference to Minister Ayres and Maguire was “agitated” the project wasn’t moving along quick enough.
Counsel Assisting the Commission Scott Robertson said the note showed Ms Berejiklian had met with Maguire and discussed the shooting club grant application.
Lower level bureaucrats have told the ICAC they were kept in the dark while then Sports Minister Stuart Ayres, Treasurer Berejiklian and Premier Mike Baird were briefed on Maguire’s proposal.
Ultimately, the ICAC has been told, the project received $5.5m of taxpayer money despite the bureaucrats in the Office of Sport not believing it passed the necessary tests.
Office of Sport executive director Paul Doorn said he had labelled Maguire’s request “low priority” partly because NSW already had a world class shooting facility in Sydney.
Upgrading Wagga’s club to the highest levels would effectively “cannibalise” the Sydney facility and undermine chances of hosting events such as the World Cup, he told the ICAC.
Four years later, Maguire was again lobbying the Office of Sport to find even more money to develop the club house and shooting facilities in Wagga, the inquiry heard.
The Office of Sport maintained it was a low priority in early 2016, Mr Doorn said, but by the middle of the year the office of Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres seemed suddenly interested.
Mr Doorn said he understood there was $40,000 left at the end of the financial year which could be used to fund a full study of the business case for the shooting club.
It was clear there was some support for the project within the minister’s office, Mr Doorn said.
By the end of 2016 Minister Ayres’ Chief of Staff had asked for bureaucrats to urgently prepare a draft cabinet submission for the club’s funding request.
That paperwork fell to Mr Doorn’s Office of Sport, the ICAC heard.
“We didn’t get information why it had a last minute nature, but they’d been given an opportunity to present it (to the funding committee) and we had to turn it around quickly,” Mr Doorn said.
Mr Doorn told the ICAC it was never explained to him why it was such a pressing matter – particularly given the application had been knocked back twice over the years.
But Mr Doorn said the Minister’s office wanted a submission prepared urgently as they were trying to secure a slot for it to be considered at cabinet’s expenditure review committee (ERC).
“If you’re trying to secure a spot on the agenda, clearly, you’ve got to have some documentation that says ‘this is what we’re asking for’,” he said.
The ICAC, on Monday, heard Mr Doorn had tasked one of his department bureaucrats — Michael Toohey — to turn the application around in just one day.
Mr Toohey told the ICAC he “absolutely” would have raised concerns if he knew Ms Berejiklian was in a secret relationship with Maguire at the time.
“Why were we pushing a grant, an allocation of funds, through to a local member based on such scant and inadequate information … for someone who was in a personal relationship with the Treasurer?” Mr Toohey said.
“I can’t see how it can be anything other than a conflict of interest.”
The funding committee ultimately approved $5.5m for the club if certain conditions were met.
Maguire, the ICAC heard, put out a press release saying the money was on the way and made no mention of any conditions.
Mr Toohey agreed that had put the Office of Sport “under pressure” to deliver the money.
Ms Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing. The hearings continue.
OFFICIALS IN THE DARK OVER ‘URGENT’ MAGUIRE GRANT: ICAC
A bureaucrat has told a corruption investigation he had no idea why a sporting grant suddenly became a matter of urgency after Gladys Berejiklian’s secret boyfriend – Daryl Maguire – repeatedly failed to get it across the line.
Office of Sport executive director Paul Doorn fronted the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday morning as the watchdog investigates a multimillion-dollar sports grant for a Wagga Wagga shooting club.
Maguire had pushed for the taxpayer to fund a revamp of the clay shooting club facilities as far back as 2012, the ICAC heard, but his requests had been turned down.
Mr Doorn said he had labelled Maguire’s request “low priority” partly because NSW already had a world class shooting facility in Sydney.
Upgrading Wagga’s club to the highest levels would effectively “cannibalise” the Sydney facility and undermine chances of hosting events such as the World Cup, he told the ICAC.
Four years later, Maguire was again lobbying the Office of Sport to find even more money to develop the club house and shooting facilities in Wagga, the inquiry heard.
The Office of Sport maintained it was a low priority in early 2016, Mr Doorn said, but by the middle of the year the office of Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres seemed suddenly interested.
Mr Doorn said he understood there was $40,000 left at the end of the financial year which could be used to fund a full study of the business case for the shooting club.
It was clear there was some support for the project within the minister’s office, Mr Doorn said.
By the end of 2016 Minister Ayres’ Chief of Staff had asked for bureaucrats to urgently prepare a draft cabinet submission for the club’s funding request.
That paperwork fell to Mr Doorn’s Office of Sport, the ICAC heard.
“We didn’t get information why it had a last minute nature, but they’d been given an opportunity to present it (to the funding committee) and we had to turn it around quickly,” Mr Doorn said.
Mr Doorn told the ICAC it was never explained to him why it was such a pressing matter – particularly given the application had been knocked back twice over the years.
But Mr Doorn said the Minister’s office wanted a submission prepared urgently as they were trying to secure a slot for it to be considered at cabinet’s expenditure review committee (ERC).
“If you’re trying to secure a spot on the agenda, clearly, you’ve got to have some documentation that says ‘this is what we’re asking for’,” he said.
The ICAC, on Monday, heard Mr Doorn had tasked one of his department bureaucrats – Michael Toohey – to turn the application around in just one day.
Mr Toohey told the ICAC he “absolutely” would have raised concerns if he knew Ms Berejiklian was in a secret relationship with Maguire at the time.
“Why were we pushing a grant, an allocation of funds, through to a local member based on such scant and inadequate information … for someone who was in a personal relationship with the Treasurer?” Mr Toohey said.
“I can’t see how it can be anything other than a conflict of interest.”
The funding committee ultimately approved $5.5m for the club if certain conditions were met.
Maguire, the ICAC heard, put out a press release saying the money was on the way and made no mention of any conditions.
Mr Toohey agreed that had put the Office of Sport “under pressure” to deliver the money.
Ms Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing. The hearings continue.
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