Waleed Aly defends Gladys Berejiklian on The Project amid ICAC investigation

Waleed Aly has leapt to the defence of Gladys Berejiklian on The Project, saying the ICAC is “getting rid of” competant leaders.

The Project co-host Waleed Aly has leapt to the defence of Gladys Berejiklian, saying the corruption watchdog is “getting rid of” competent leaders.

Aly said the Independent Commission Against Corruption may be doing the opposite of what it is designed to do – instil confidence in politicians.

Ms Berejiklian resigned as premier last week after it was revealed she is at the centre of a corruption probe linked to her disgraced ex-lover Daryl Maguire who was found to have abused his public office.

Gladys Berejiklian.

Daryl Maguire.

Former Liberal premier Barry O’Farrell resigned in 2014 after an ICAC inquiry into his decision to accept a $3000 bottle of wine without declaring it.

Fellow Liberal premier Nick Greiner stood down in 1992 stood for offering a public service job to former education Minister Terry Metherell.

Barry O' Farrell.

Former NSW premier Nick Greiner.

“One of the interesting elements of this is ICAC is there ... to give the public confidence in politicians and in the political system. But is there a danger though that it can do the opposite and ICAC may have done that by getting rid of premiers that are widely respected, seen as competent, and people who have been of integrity, seeing a premier in NSW disappear over a bottle of wine. It erodes confidence in the political system unnecessarily”.

There are growing calls for a NSW-style corruption watchdog to be implemented at a federal level. But how it would work is becoming a contentious issue. #TheProjectTVpic.twitter.com/NgeH4ndyKz

— The Project (@theprojecttv) October 6, 2021

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus rejected the suggestion, saying it wasn’t ICAC that “got rid of” Ms Berejiklian.

“I think that all politicians and all commentators need to be very careful not to attack these anti-corruption commissions simply because they don’t like what they’ve discovered or because they don’t like outcomes,” he said. “Bear in mind the former premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian, resigned of her own volition. No-one required her to resign. Nothing about the ICAC scheme required her to resign. So it’s wrong those people that are blaming ICAC because Ms Berejiklian’s no longer the Premier of NSW.

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.

“It was her choice to resign. A quite different course of action was available to her. She could have simply stood aside. Or she could have decided not to stand aside at all and undergo the investigation that’s now under way. We don’t yet know the outcome of that inquiry”.

Ms Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the actions of Mr Maguire.

A public inquiry into the matter will be held for about 10 days from October 18.