Highlights of the explosive 2021 ICAC inquiry: What you need to know
It’s been almost two years since former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian gave evidence at the ICAC inquiry where her secret relationship to Daryl Maguire was revealed. Here’s what you need to know.
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In October 2021, former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian spent two days giving evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry.
ICAC was investigating former MP Daryl Maguire and Ms Berejiklian over their roles in seeking and approving two grants in Maguire’s electorate of Wagga Wagga.
But during the inquiry, explosive revelations were made public about the secret relationship between the pair, as well as the airing of secretly-recorded conversations between them.
Ms Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing.
On June 29, ICAC handed down its findings, saying Ms Berejiklian and her former lover engaged in serious corrupt conduct, the ICAC found but did not recommend Ms Berejiklian be charged, despite its findings.
Here’s a look at the highlights of the ICAC inquiry.
WHAT WAS THE ICAC INQUIRY ABOUT?
ICAC was investigating whether Ms Berejiklian breached public trust through conflict of interest based on her personal relationship with Maguire, and whether Ms Berejiklian turned a blind eye to Maguire’s business dealings despite having suspicions he may have been corrupt.
The inquiry was investigating whether Ms Berejiklian, while treasurer in 2016, acted properly in handling a grant application by Maguire for a shooting club in his then-electorate of Wagga Wagga.
The inquiry actually began in 2020 looking at Maguire’s political dealings but Operation Keppel ICAC operatives had been monitoring Maguire since at least 2018.
After the bombshell revelation he was in a long-term relationship with Ms Berejiklian, ICAC expanded its investigation to include the former premier.
This was announced in 2021 leading to her quitting as premier of NSW in October, despite the state coming out of long Covid lockdowns.
She hired barristers Bret Walker SC and Sophie Callan SC to represent her at the hearing.
Ms Berejiklian was the last person to give evidence at the public inquiry, which ended on November 1, 2021 after 11 days.
GLADYS’ SECRET ROMANCE
The relationship between Ms Berejiklian and Maguire began in 2015. Ms Berejiklian went from treasurer to premier in 2017 while Maguire was the Wagga Wagga MP.
In 2018, Maguire appeared before an ICAC inquiry relating to payments being sought to broker deals for property developers. He then quit the NSW Liberal Party and officially resigned from parliament in August 2018.
It is understood their relationship ended around July 2018 but Ms Berejiklian remained in touch with Maguire until she stopped all contact in 2020 when an ICAC inquiry into his political dealings was called.
It is in that inquiry where their secret relationship is revealed to the public and questions were raised about why Ms Berejiklian didn’t go public with her relationship or mention a conflict of interest.
SECRETLY RECORDED CONVERSATIONS
Not only did the public hear about Ms Berejiklian and Maguire’s secret romance, but the ICAC also revealed the secretly recorded phone conversations between the pair.
Some of these phone tap conversations were played by the corruption watchdog at the 2021 inquiry, capturing the moment Maguire told Ms Berejiklian authorities were digging into his business dealings.
One phone call between them in 2018 captured the pair speaking in detail about the ICAC.
“Is there anything to worry about?” Ms Berejiklian asked.
“No I’ve never accepted a dollar,” Maguire responded.
But the 17-minute call turned into Maguire ranting to Ms Berejiklian, then premier of NSW, about ICAC becoming the “Spanish f***ing Inquisition” that was destroying politics.
“They could probably actually listen to any calls that were being made between me and this phone and any individual that I choose to talk to including you,” Maguire told her.
“Is that gonna be a problem?” Ms Berejiklian asked.
Maguire said politics had been ruined by “conspiracy theorists” who saw corruption in every official and politicians had become “prostitutes”.
Ms Berejiklian, in the phone call, was heard telling Maguire she always kept her distance from the characters embroiled in the investigation.
“I think they’re dodgy,” she said.
“Glad – everyone is dodgy,” Maguire responded.
“That means you can’t mix with anybody. You can’t have a conversation.”
The commission also played a recorded phone call where Ms Berejiklian was heard vowing to “throw money” at his electorate after he retired from politics.
GLADYS QUITS AS PREMIER
When ICAC announced its inquiry would look at Ms Berejiklian’s relationship with Maguire, she resigned as Premier of NSW on October 1, 2021.
She denies any wrongdoing but said she had “no option” other than to quit “to maintain the integrity of the public office … while an investigation was completed”.
“History will demonstrate that I have always executed my duties with the highest degree of integrity for the benefit of the people of NSW,” Ms Berejiklian said when announcing her resignation.
“The people of this state need certainty as to who their leader is during the challenging times of the pandemic,” she said.
“I cannot predict how long it will take the ICAC to complete this investigation, let alone deliver a report in circumstances where I was first called to give evidence in a public hearing nearly 12 months ago.”
AFTERMATH
In the days after Ms Berejiklian revealed she had been in a secret relationship with Mr Maguire, the then-premier embarked on an ultimately successful PR blitz in which she painted herself as a woman in love and a victim of a bad relationship. She even admitted she had wanted to marry him.
For the public, this narrative made her relatable and saw an outpouring of support for the premier. At the same time, Ms Berejiklian had told the ICAC she did not declare the relationship as it had not been of “sufficient substance”.
Ms Berejiklian’s very public love story was one of a number of factors considered by ICAC Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl when she ruled that details of the Berejiklian-Maguire relationship should be heard in public.
Additionally, Ms Berejiklian’s chief of staff, Sarah Cruickshank, gave evidence to the ICAC inquiry that details about the relationship told to her by the then-premier in 2018 were inconsistent with Ms Berejiklian’s testimony.
Ms Cruickshank had first known about Ms Berejiklian’s relationship with Mr Maguire back in July 2018, after he had been forced to resign.
Ms Cruickshank said Ms Berejiklian had told her about the relationship over a phone call but had insisted at the time the relationship was “historical” and had ended “before she became the premier”.
Under questioning, Ms Cruickshank admitted Ms Berejiklian had “probably” lied to her about the relationship ending prior to 2018.
Ms Cruickshank said if she had known the then-premier had continued the relationship she would have warned her against it.
She recalled one conversation after Mr Maguire quit in which she told Ms Berejiklian to have “nothing more to do with” Mr Maguire.
“(Ms Berejiklian) had said at the time something like ‘he texts me sometimes’ … and we said ‘don’t talk to him, don’t have anything to do with him’,” Ms Cruickshank said.
The public hearings also revealed Ms Berejiklian had promised to “throw money” at Mr Maguire’s Wagga Wagga electorate after his resignation.
At the time Ms Berejiklian denied the electorate had been given special treatment due to her close personal relationship. Instead, the former premier admitted to pork-barrelling (the process of allocating funds to marginal seats to secure power), which is not regarded by the ICAC as corrupt conduct.
Ms Berejiklian admitted her government “threw money at seats in order to keep them” and that a $5.5 million Wagga gun club was “perhaps” a way to secure votes in the area but denied it had anything to do with her relationship with Mr Maguire.
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