Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is poised to learn her fate on Thursday when the state’s corruption watchdog finally reveals – after 18 months! – whether or not she breached the public trust and engaged in any dishonest behaviour.
As everyone knows, the backstory to the fiasco boils down to her close, personal and multi-year relationship with former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl “Numero Uno” Maguire, a shyster of the highest order who cut deals with property developers while serving as an MP. Berejiklian is in the frame for a number of potential misdeeds, but key among them is lauding Maguire – at least in one instance – over this attempted handiwork.
Now an Optus executive, it’s no surprise that the former premier is fortifying herself against multiple outcomes when the findings are released.
Margin Call understands there are two statements already drafted – one if she is found to have engaged in corrupt conduct, the other if she’s daubed in adverse findings. These are far less consequential as the alternative.
We’re hearing that Berejiklian will announce a swift NSW Court of Appeal challenge if she’s found to have engaged in some sort of corruption. It’s a play straight out of the Nick Greiner book, of course; Greiner was scalped by ICAC in 1992 over the Terry Metherellaffair, only to be cleared in the Court of Appeal at a later date. Berejiklian’s silk, Bret Walker, SC, is on standby for that.
The mere fact that Berejiklian’s camp is even planning for the possibility of such a serious finding is suggestive of how prolonged and bare-knuckled this matter could yet become. We’re equally curious to know how Optus plans to react to the news.
The key finding to watch for is whether or not her conduct was “liable to allow or encourage the occurrence” of Maguire’s corrupt behaviour. Does the immortal remark, “I don’t need to know about that bit”, as Berejiklian told Maguire in a recorded phone call, trip that wire? We’ll know soon enough.
Wulff flashback
Readers may recall the name of former Oil Search managing director Keiran Wulff, who resigned under disagreeable circumstances from the company two years ago when he was confronted by the board about complaints of bullying.
Officially, Wulff’s exit was managed on medical grounds – he was allowed to quit. And yet somehow former board chair Rick Lee still had the chutzpah to boast of the “decisive action” taken by the company over Wulff’s “unacceptable” conduct.
We haven’t seen much of Wulff since his departure but he has recently turned up, very oddly, in a Santos document distributed to staff about a month ago. The instructional booklet is a policy guide on how Santos should endeavour to deploy photographs of its employees.
“Our photography style focuses on our people as the real faces behind Santos,” it says. “This humanising approach is important to build an authentic and personable brand image.”
As it happens, Santos divides its photography into two classes.
“Tier one” shots are the “photography heroes” of Santos, “the faces behind the vision, making it happen”. In simpler language, they’re the company schleppers snapped in sooty factories and desertscapes.
Tier two photographs are b-roll shots of civilians playing beach cricket, paddle-boarding, etc; so long as there’s enough blue colour in the background to overlay corporate headlines and copy, these shots are acceptable.
Confusingly, Wulff has found himself among the Tier one photographs in an arctic setting with a company beanie pulled over his head. We know it’s him because his name is printed on the parker he’s wearing.
But as far as this column is aware, Wulff resigned from Oil Search in July 2021, months before the company’s $22bn merger with Santos was finalised. Remember: medical grounds, bullying allegations …
So what exactly has gone on here? Has Santos quietly employed Wulff, or contracted him for a bit of work on the side, or have they just photoshopped a couple of logos onto an old Oil Search picture and thrown it into the Tier One mix.
None of it sounds consistent with the company’s own warning at the bottom of the document, which says that images “need to be authentic and relevant to Santos” to avoid “misrepresentation and unintentionally misleading the audience”.
We asked Santos to clarify but didn’t hear back.
Behind the curtain
Delegates walking the floor of the World Mining Congress in Brisbane this week would have been hard-pressed not to encounter the enormous, lavishly curtained installation put up by Fortescue Future Industries and its billionaire owner, Andrew Forrest.
If that wasn’t confronting enough, guests who ventured inside were greeted by a lifelike hologram of Forrest (and FFI’s other wizards of green hydrogen) giving a spiel on how the company is eliminating 2.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions. Talk about leading with the chin! The predictable joke circulating through the congress was to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Such spectacles are becoming a bit common for the eccentric magnate.
Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that Margin Call reported on Twiggy dancing like a Muppet on a stage in Marrakech, while he ridiculed Elon Musk for … being a Muppet?
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