Barry O'Farrell resigns after being caught out over bottle of wine

Barry O'Farrell has quit as NSW premier.Credit: Jonathan Ng

It's been an extraordinary day in NSW politics, but we are now going to close off live coverage. Here's a selection of stories to read about the day in more detail.

• NSW Premier resigns over $3000 bottle of wine
• Read Barry O'Farrell's letter
• PM defends 'man of honour'
• Meet the two would-be premiers
• The man whose gift brought down O'Farrell
• Sheehan: 'No reason for the guillotine'
• 'Let me not mince my words, madam': PM rounds on reporter
• Sketch: Abbott's red-letter day spoilt
• Timeline of a premier's downfall
• ICAC transcript from Wednesday

He bought the $3000 bottle of wine that toppled a premier. But what else do you know about Nick Di Girolamo, the former chief executive of Australian Water Holdings?

Well, suffice to say he's had his own string of questions to answer over the past month, with ICAC accusing him of being an "old-fashioned shyster fraudster" and a "bare-faced liar" who created sham documents.

Jacqueline Maley has filed a Sketch report of this morning's extraordinary press conference with the Prime Minister, where he told a reporter to retract her question. Maley writes:

It was supposed to be his big day. For Prime Minister Tony Abbott, it doesn’t get much closer to Christmas than this: an infrastructure announcement joyfully rounded off with a royal visit.

A regally red-letter day.

A tummy-butterfly-inducing day so highly anticipated it was preceded, one imagines, by a sleepless night spent practising witty one-liners with which to greet Princess Kate, and thanking God for the fact that (finally!) he was about to meet a woman who would not object to being called a ‘‘lady’’.

Read the whole article here.

Prime Minster Tony Abbott said that Barry O'Farrell is a man of integrity.Credit: Sasha Woolley

What a day it's been at ICAC. From this morning's sensational tendering of a thank you note from Barry O'Farrell for a bottle of wine he'd denied receiving, to the soon-to-be former premier returning to the stand to take questions from counsel, it has been absolutely riveting. 

The entire transcript is now up online, if you would like to read it. You can find it here.

 

The man who brought down a premier with a bottle of wine, Liberal fundraiser and Obeid associate Nick Di Girolamo, is still in the witness box at ICAC. The inquiry into Obeid-linked company Australian Water Holdings, now in its fifth week, is expected to conclude today.

The commission will not be reflecting with satisfaction that its inquiry has claimed the scalp of a sitting premier. O'Farrell was a vocal supporter of ICAC and increased its funding to deal with its increased workload.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Geoffrey Watson, SC, made clear in his opening address: "We have looked carefully at the activities of Mr O'Farrell and [former finance minister Greg] Mr Pearce and we have found no evidence to implicate either in any corruption."

Watson reiterated today that there is no suggestion O'Farrell engaged in corrupt conduct.

Paul Sheehan has summed up what a lot of people are wondering regarding the abrupt resignation of the NSW Premier.

What? The resignation of Barry O’Farrell has opened a gaping conceptual hole. It seems disproportionate. A bottle of wine and a memory lapse does not seem enough for the guillotine.

Which means everyone around here is wondering if there is more to this story. This does not help O’Farrell in his moment of ultimate sacrifice.

Cartoon: Cathy Wilcox

Herald cartoonist Cathy Wilcox nails it. Again.

Sydney, once home to the Rum Corps, is now apparently home to the Penfold Grange Corps, writes Tony Wright in a sketch piece surrounding today's events.

Wright compares the all-seeing, all-knowing might of ICAC with Victoria's underwhelming IBAC.

An excerpt:

Until recently, there was much satisfaction among Liberal leaders everywhere as ICAC peeled away the layers that protected the cheery relationship between NSW Labor and shonks like the Obeids, revealing putrefaction within.

But then, mercy, the nation’s assistant treasurer Arthur Sinodinos, a Liberal fellow, found himself gulping gallons of water and suffering shocking amnesia, the interrogation lamp of ICAC burning a hole in his credibility.

And now, Great Gods, NSW Liberal Premier - whoops, former premier - Barry O’Farrell has gone and crucified himself, lying under ICAC’s oath or, at the very least, suffering the worst blackout in drinking history. Who forgets getting a $3000 bottle of Grange laid down since the year of their birth?

What were the NSW rule-makers thinking when they gave rein to a mob as effective as ICAC? Things are clearly out of control when BOTH major parties are getting a flogging.

Former NSW premier, Australian foreign minister and diarist Bob Carr has given an interview in Brisbane where he's spruiking his new book.

Mr Carr has said Mr O'Farrell had no alternative to resign, but would not be drawn on whether Mr O’Farrell’s “significant memory fail” about being gifted a $3000 bottle of 1959 Grange wine was plausible.

“Given that the Premier’s resigned, I don’t think there’s any more in argument, the point is he’s accepted the case and that’s really all that matters at this point,” he said.

"...As the evidence was emerging I think even his closest friends and supporters would say there was going to be no alternative to this. It was decisive of him to get to the point quickly rather than to fight on.

Having attracted ridicule about the parts of his diary that focus on diet and exercise, Mr Carr - who gave up drinking three years ago - said he wouldn’t know how many calories were in a bottle of ’59 Grange.

“Too many... wine is full of sugar, and after wasting too much of my life savouring good wine, I reached a decision that the disadvantages outweigh the joy of the stuff,” he said.

“As tempted as I am by a wonderful pinot noir from time to time, I think being clear-headed is the better course.”

It was only six days ago that Herald State Political Editor Sean Nicholls wrote this op-ed calling on Barry O'Farrell to do more to regulate the lobbying industry. 

It may now be point of business number one for his successor, you might think.