Gladys Berejiklian: NSW Premier’s ‘nightmare’ in her own words

It’s very difficult for someone in my position to have a private and personal life. And I’m very upset at what has transpired. But I want to make this assurance to the people of New South Wales. I have always put the public first.

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It’s very difficult for someone in my position to have a private and personal life.

And I’m very upset at what has transpired. But I want to make this assurance to the people of New South Wales.

I have always put the public first.

I have always made sure the public interest is first and foremost paramount in every single thing that I do. The integrity of the role I have, the office that I hold is the greatest privilege of my life.

And while I have made this mistake in my personal life, I intend to serve the people of New South Wales to the best of my ability. That’s what I’ve always done.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian leaves home today. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Gladys Berejiklian with disgraced MP Darryl Maguire.

I’ve sacrificed my life to public office, and I’m proud of that. The position I hold is a privileged one.

It is an honour to serve the people of the state. And I look forward to maintaining my focus to keep everybody safe, to keep jobs going during a very difficult time for the state.

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But I want to state at the outset that had I known then what I know now, clearly I would not have made those personal decisions that I did.

I trusted someone that I’ve known for a long time and I feel really, really let down. I trusted him for a long time. We were colleagues for 15 years. And I am not going to take away from the fact that I’ve made a mistake in my personal life.

But I have to say that there is huge separation between a personal life and public office.

And I can’t stress enough that every day that I’ve been in this job, I have held myself accountable to the highest standards and I’ve held my colleagues to the highest standards. And I say to all the colleagues or the public servants or the people that I’ve worked with.

They know me. They know who I am. Many of you standing here know me, know who I am.

And I will continue to put the people of this state first and foremost in all of my activities.

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Ms Berejiklian responds to questions regarding Mr Maguire’s proposed property deal...

I’ve made my position clear today and the evidence that I gave, and it’s fair to say that a number of people were approached in government, a number of public servants were approached.

And the good news is that everybody held their ground and what was right in the interests of the public. Everybody held their ground.

‘While I have made this mistake in my personal life, I intend to serve the people of New South Wales to the best of my ability.’

And this person (Maguire) was not able to acquire anything or his friends or his associates.

And I want to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank all of the public servants, all of my colleagues who had every opportunity, made sure they did the right thing, make sure that this person did not get any personal benefit.

And that is what is part of the issue here. He had a go, quite a few, many times, but nothing transpired.

And I want to say strongly to the people of this state, there is one way, one way to come to the government to get things done, and that’s through the front door through proper process.

And I’m pleased to say the process is held up because nobody was able to gain a benefit from trying to get around the process, from trying to influence, from trying to cajole. That did not occur.

And that is why I want to thank all of the public servants, all of the colleagues, everybody who was approached ensured that at every opportunity, proper processes of this government were held to account.

And that is what is important for me.

‘I have held myself accountable to the highest standards and I’ve held my colleagues to the highest standards’

People may have tried to get around proper process, but they failed. They failed to get to me around proper process. And that is what is important. I hold the integrity of this government to the highest standard. And what is comforting in what I regard as a personal nightmare … I can’t tell you what he’s done to me personally. It’s been devastating.

The above are edited extracts of remarks made by Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday.