Daryl Maguire on affair with Gladys Berejiklian: Marriage, a baby, and ‘lots of cash’ for Wagga

Daryl Maguire says he and Gladys Berejiklian discussed marriage and parenthood, while she agreed to ‘throw money’ at his seat to retain it in a by-election

 

Gladys Berejiklian discussed marriage and having a child with disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, who went on holidays with the former premier and was given a key to her home, casting doubts on her claim their relationship was never of “sufficient ­status” to require disclosure.

Text messages and phone calls played at a corruption hearing ­revealed Ms Berejiklian assisted Mr Maguire with proposals outside of formal channels, providing progress updates and confiding that she would “throw money” at his seat of Wagga Wagga to retain it in a by-election.

In one call, Mr Maguire insisted the former premier fund a ­stadium for the regional town, an idea with which Ms Berejiklian agreed, saying she could bypass bureaucrats who had scuppered previous attempts to do so.

“I can overrule them anyway,” Ms Berejiklian replied. “I’ll throw money at Wagga, don’t you worry about that. Lots of it.”

In a stunning day of evidence, the hearings at the Independent Commission Against Corruption began with an attempt to prevent Mr Maguire’s evidence being heard in public to avoid “plumbing the depths” of Ms Berejiklian’s ­private life.

After a brief adjournment, ICAC Commissioner Ruth McColl struck down the application, saying it was not in the public interest to do so.

Mr Maguire then began answering questions about the ­nature of the relationship, which remains at the heart of ICAC’s ­inquiries into Ms Berejiklian’s conduct, and whether she acted within her duties.

“You loved her?” asked counsel assisting Scott Robertson.

“Yes,” Mr Maguire said.

“And so far as you can ascertain, she loved you as well?”

“Yes.”

Providing evidence via video-link from Wagga Wagga, Mr Maguire went on to confirm that the relationship began in 2015 and, over time, it evolved to a point where they contemplated marriage and held discussions about “potentially having a child”.

He agreed that he had been given a key to the former premier’s Sydney home, a detail that was ventilated in the NSW parliament last year but which Ms Berejiklian described as “practically and factually incorrect”.

Ms Berejiklian is scheduled to give evidence on Friday and has previously described the relationship as one that would not warrant disclosure under the NSW ministerial code of conduct because it “wasn’t anything of note”.

At issue is whether she breached the public trust by not disclosing a conflict of interest while providing funding to Mr Maguire when they were in a relationship, among other matters, including whether she allowed or encouraged corrupt conduct.

Gladys Berejiklian is scheduled to give evidence to ICAC on Friday. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Upon her resignation as premier, Ms Berejiklian told a press conference that history would demonstrate she had always acted with “the highest degree of integrity” for the people of NSW.

While she has yet to respond to the allegations, the hearings have already provided some insight into the makings of her defence through the daily cross-examination of witnesses by Ms Berejiklian’s barrister, Sophie Callan SC.

This continued on Thursday with queries of Mr Maguire that sought to establish the less-than-formal nature of his relationship with the former premier.

“You did not enjoy any shared finances with Ms Berejiklian?” asked Ms Callan.

“No,” he said

He also did not share a diary with Ms Berejiklian, never formally met her parents or family members, and he had never introduced her to members of his own family.

On trips to Sydney, he would stay in his own lodgings, he said, and the couple did not celebrate anniversaries.

But the exact end of the relationship remains somewhat uncertain. Mr Maguire said it continued up until the beginning of public hearings last year; while Ms Berejiklian has claimed it ended some time in 2018 after he resigned from parliament – but their communication was maintained due to his fragile state.

Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire in 2015. Picture: The Daily Advertiser

Mr Maguire’s resignation was prompted by a separate ICAC inquiry, Operation Dasha, in which it was revealed that he had been negotiating commissions with property developers who were seeking to erect buildings in ­Canterbury City Council.

Ms Berejiklian strongly condemned Mr Maguire with a public statement urging him to exit politics, claiming he had “let down his constituents, the people of NSW, and the NSW Liberal Party”.

Privately, however, their relationship continued. Mr Maguire told the hearing that he had provided advice to Ms Berejiklian on how to manage the by-election that would be held in his seat, as well as other matters relating to his departure.

In a text message written one day after Ms Berejiklian issued her statement, Mr Maguire, using an Armenian term of endearment, wrote: “Hokis get stuck into me. Kick the shit out of me good for party morale!”

A fortnight later, they held a phone call in which Ms Berejiklian promised to “throw money at Wagga” to retain the seat and keep the electorate in Liberal Party hands.

It was subsequently lost to ­independent MP Joe McGirr.

“You just need to know what the right things are to throw at Wagga,” Mr Maguire said in the phone call.

“You’ve already told me the three top things,” Ms Berejiklian replied.

“Give them a stadium.”

“I’ll do that too, don’t worry.”

The ICAC hearings have taken evidence from numerous public officials over the past two weeks in relation to two funding grants sought by Mr Maguire and approved or advanced, in part, by Ms Berejiklian during her time as treasurer and premier of NSW.

One grant, for $5.5m, concerned the Australian Clay Target Association and funding to upgrade its clubhouse in Wagga Wagga. A second grant of up to $30m was sought for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music.

Ms Berejiklian informed Mr Maguire of advances with the RCM’s application outside of the usual correspondence between their offices.

“We ticked off on your conservatorium the other day, so that’s a done deal,” Ms Berejiklian said in May 2018, revealing that the government had awarded the RCM $10m to assist with its ­relocation, a project which had been aggressively pursued by Mr Maguire.

Asked if he had used his close, personal relationship with Ms ­Berejiklian to improve his lobbying efforts, Mr Maguire said he generally compartmentalised the personal and professional spheres of their relationship. “But, yeah,” he added, “I would have given her a hard time on certain things. I wouldn’t have cut her any slack.”

Aside from the topic of their ­relationship, Mr Maguire appeared mostly at ease under questioning and apologised in advance for some of the profanity-laden phone calls that were played by the commission.

“Wagga’s just going to be like Sydney,” Mr Maguire said in one intercepted conversation, held in 2017. “That’s why we need a stadium, a conservatorium. That’s why we need what Sydney’s got. People should listen to me. Wagga is the centre of the universe and it needs money put into it.”

He then proceeded to ridicule Nationals colleagues, including “Katrina” and ”Piccoli”, believed to be former MPs Katrina Hodgkinson and Adrian Piccoli, whom he criticised for not delivering for their electorates.

“Those other dumbasses sit there and look after themselves,” he said. “F..k them. Wagga’s where it’s going to happen.”