Anna Caldwell: Gladys Berejiklian’s ex will haunt Libs for decades
In the space of a single day the NSW conservative government has lost the decade-long high ground it claimed on corruption, and the problem goes right to the Premier’s door.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
In the space of a single day the NSW conservative government has lost the decade-long high ground it claimed on corruption and the problem goes right to the Premier’s door.
While the Coalition has spent 10 years taunting Labor over the ghost of Eddie Obeid, we now know three successive Liberal premiers appointed a bloke secretly running a cash-in-bags operation to prized positions in their governments.
Dodgy Daryl Maguire, exposed now as a snake oil salesman in a politician’s suit, has admitted to running a Chinese cash-for-visa scheme and admitted to monetising the trappings of his Macquarie Street political office for his own gain.
He is also accused of accepting payment to arrange for a Chinese business delegation to meet then Premier Barry O’Farrell.
These ICAC hearings and the corruption allegations levelled at the Premier’s ex boyfriend, who we know regaled her with tales of his money making attempts, will haunt the Coalition government for years to come.
Berejiklian reverted to her old trick of summonsing the ghost of Labor corruption on Wednesday, bellowing “the Leader of the Opposition sat in the cabinet with Eddie Obeid and Ian MacDonald — did she know they were doing corrupt activity?”
Jodi McKay was able to fire back: “Unlike you I reported it to ICAC.”
She, in fact, lost her seat in 2011 as a result.
But the truth of what McKay could have said was even stronger — she didn’t make either of those men her boyfriend.
She didn’t share thousands of hours of whispered sweet nothings (or whispered commissions) with those men.
For so long the Labor brand has been tainted by dodgy deals and corruption, and now in the space of days this narrative is on its head.
Dodgy Daryl and his ex-girlfriend, the Premier of NSW, have handed Labor the electoral gift of the decade.