Federal Labor MP Ed Husic labels Gladys Berejiklian ‘premier for the east’

Western Sydney MP Ed Husic has given Gladys Berejiklian a brutal new moniker on breakfast TV.

Federal Labor MP Ed Husic has laid the boot into Gladys Berejiklian just days after she emotionally announced her resignation from politics.

Ms Berejiklian stepped down from the top job on Friday after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) revealed it was investigating if she breached public trust by awarding grants to several community organisations between 2012 and 2018.

The Premier, who will be formally replaced on Tuesday and maintains she has always acted with integrity, has received an outpouring of support since her shock resignation, including flowers and cards laid at the entrance to her office.

Her popularity was fuelled by guiding NSW through the 2019 summer bushfires and the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Mr Husic, the member for Chifley and Labor spokesman for industry, said there was no love lost by him or his constituents in western Sydney.

In a scathing assessment of Ms Berejiklian on ABC program Insiders on Sunday he labelled her “a premier for the east and north” of Sydney.

“There has been a lot of outpouring of views on one side … talking about how unfair this is to Gladys Berejiklian, but I am not in that camp,” he said.

“And I think a lot of the people that I represent and care about here in (western) Sydney see that she was a premier, particularly through this pandemic and this lockdown, for the east and the north of the city.

Federal Labor MP Ed Husic has slammed Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: ABC Insiders

"A lot of the people I represent see that [Gladys Berejiklian] was a Premier...for the east and the north of the city."

WATCH: Shadow Industry Minister Ed Husic on whether it was the right time for NSW Premier to resign #Insiders#auspolpic.twitter.com/fYLZqTmVi6

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) October 2, 2021

“She managed a very ideological, political lockdown that divided the city, saw things happen in the west that would not happen in the north and east, played politics with public health.

“I represent nearly 7,000 largely unvaccinated residents in the suburbs of Chifley that caught Covid, and I could not look those people in the eye and say ‘I thank Gladys Berejiklian for her service’ when really the phrase that should be uttered by her and the New South Wales Liberals is, ‘Sorry we let you down,’ and then they fix it.”

Gladys Berejiklian faces an ICAC investigation. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The ICAC probe into Ms Berejiklian will examine if there was a conflict of interest between her public duties and private interests when she was in a secret relationship with disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.

It will examine a grant “awarded or promised” to the Australian Clay Target Association at Wagga Wagga, where Mr Maguire was the local member.

On Friday Ms Berejiklian said: “I state categorically, I have always acted with the highest level of integrity.”

“History will demonstrate that I have always executed my duties with the highest degree of integrity for the benefit of the people of NSW who I have had the privilege to serve.”

Meanwhile the NSW Liberal party is preparing to elect a new premier, with a party room meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

Current NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet is considered the frontrunner to take over, while Minister for Planning and Public Places Rob Stokes is also a strong candidate.

Flowers and signs were left at Ms Berejiklian’s office following her resignation. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Originally published as Federal Labor MP Ed Husic labels Gladys Berejiklian ‘premier for the east’