Gladys Berejiklian, Daryl Maguire relationship: Expletive-riddled phone calls revealed

An expletive-laden private phone call between Gladys Berejiklian and the MP she was in a relationship with has been played to a corruption inquiry.

For a woman who has cultivated an public image as a goody two shoes, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s big reveal she was in a secret relationship with disgraced former NSW MP Daryl Maguire has rendered most of her colleagues simply speechless.

As private phone calls between the pair were played to her in the witness box today, she flinched as Mr Maguire let the f-bombs fly during a discussion that was secretly intercepted by the corruption watchdog.

Mr Maguire can be heard delivering a lengthy monologue complaining “they’re all sucking people’s dicks” and “they can get f**ked”.

But her ex-boyfriend’s bad language is the least of her problems today given the dramatic revelations at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) hearing.

Even harder to swallow is the revelation that she continued that “close, personal relationship” after she demanded he resign from Parliament in disgrace two years ago.

Or, that she was somehow unaware of the financial pressure he was under, given her own evidence is that he was “obsessed with it”.

If she knew he was worried about his financial position, surely that would give rise to questions in her mind about what he might do to fix it?

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Gladys Berejiklian with Daryl Maguire. Picture: Supplied

In July 2018, the New South Wales Premier urged Mr Maguire to reconsider his position in politics after secret phone recordings of him discussing potential developer “dividends” were played at another Sydney corruption inquiry.

Ms Berejiklian said she felt “deep disappointment” after learning about the recordings, but didn’t bother to tell voters or colleagues she was in a “close, personal relationship” with him at the time.

“Whilst it is for Mr Maguire alone to determine whether he stays on as the elected member until next March, I would encourage him to think carefully as to whether he can effectively represent the people of Wagga Wagga from here on in,” Berejiklian said in a statement at the time.

Mr Maguire had quit the Liberal party two days earlier, after the ICAC inquiry heard telephone conversations of him trying to arrange a “dividend” for helping arrange a multi-million property sale to a Chinese developer.

“1.5 per cent isn’t enough divided by two, if you know what I mean,” Maguire was recorded as saying.

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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian arrives to give evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

But instead of resigning effective immediately, Mr Maguire announced he would stay on but retire at the next election.

“These events have brought forward a decision that I’d already made … in the meantime up until election date I’ll continue to work for the people of Wagga Wagga as I’ve always done,” he said.

“I breached a very strict code of conduct for parliamentary secretaries but I still can continue to work on behalf of the Wagga Wagga electorate,” he said.

“I do apologise — I did breach a very strict code of conduct and I have to suffer the consequences but I won’t put the taxpayer to the cost of having a by-election — I think that unreasonable and I think it’s a cost the taxpayer doesn’t need.”

He ultimately resigned from Parliament in August, 2018. But according to Ms Berejiklian’s own evidence she continued her relationship with Mr Maguire until recently when she knew there was a full-blown ICAC inquiry into his activities.

ICAC is investigating allegations that, from 2012 to August 2018, Mr Maguire engaged in conduct that involved a breach of public trust by using his public office, involving his duties as a member of the NSW Parliament, and the use of parliamentary resources, to improperly gain a benefit for himself and/or entities close to him. These entities included G8wayinternational/G8wayinternational Pty Ltd and associated persons.

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MP Daryl Maguire and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in Wagga in 2017. Picture: Supplied

Fast forward to Monday’s ICAC hearings and it was once again the secret recordings of the MP’s phone conversations and the woman he was secretly in a “close, personal relationship” with that are just one of many jaw-dropping aspects of the affair.

Ms Berejiklian’s explanation for not telling colleagues she was in a secret relationship with Mr Maguire included that she was “a very private person” and didn’t feel the relationship had “sufficient substance” to be made public.

“We were close,” she said.

The commission has now heard that Ms Berejiklian told Mr Maguire on the private call: “You will always be my numero uno.”

Asked what she meant by that, the Premier said she probably meant: “in my personal life I placed importance on how I felt about him.”

For now, her office insists she’s digging in and won’t be quitting politics over today’s revelations.

But the wisdom of continuing that “close, personal, relationship” with Mr Maguire after he resigned in disgrace because he was in “a bad state” is now very likely to trigger her own exit from politics.