ICAC: Gladys Berejiklian’s battle to get her lines straight on love

Gladys Berejiklian says Daryl Maguire ‘wasn’t my boyfriend’, just a day after saying she was in love and considered marriage.

Key crossbenchers are demanding Gladys Berejiklian ­explain why she did not disclose her relationship with Daryl Maguire sooner. Picture: Steven Saphore

Gladys Berejiklian has said former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire “wasn’t my boyfriend” or “anything of note”, just one day after conceding she was in love with him and considered the prospect of marriage.

The status of the relationship has become a central issue in the ICAC scandal, with the NSW Premier insisting it was not of “sufficient status” to disclose to authorities as is required under the ministerial code of conduct.

The Home Affairs Department also confirmed an ongoing investigation into Mr Maguire’s cash-for-visas scheme and whether had also lobbied federal MPs.

With NSW parliament to reconvene on Tuesday, senior Liberal MPs remain concerned about the prospect of the corruption probe into Mr Maguire’s business dealings making adverse findings against Ms Berejiklian over the credibility of the responses she provided to the inquiry last week. The Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry on Friday released previously secret transcripts showing Mr Maguire had told investigators the relationship had begun in 2013 or 2014 — a year before Ms Berejiklian said it had.

Key crossbenchers are also ­demanding Ms Berejiklian ­explain why she did not disclose her relationship with Mr Maguire sooner, warning they will not support the government’s legislation until answers are provided.

A series of interviews given by Ms Berejiklian at the weekend and on Monday stoked further confusion, with the Premier ­telling the Sunday Telegraph newspaper she loved Mr Maguire and considered the possibility of marriage. By Monday she was playing down the relationship.

“He wasn‘t my boyfriend,” Ms Berejiklian told 2GB radio.

“He wasn’t anything of note. I certainly hoped it would be … [but] because I’m not the sort of person who had been in a long-term relationship, I didn’t want to introduce him to my social circle.”

 

The ministerial code of conduct, which falls under the guidance of ICAC, states a minister must disclose potential conflicts which involve a “family member”, a definition which includes “any person with whom the minister is in an intimate personal relationship”. While in a “close, personal” relationship with Mr Maguire, Ms Berejiklian visited his electorate on a number of occasions, including in August 2018 when she inspected the $400m Wagga Wagga Base Hospital redevelopment. Mr Maguire resigned from parliament two days later.

In October 2017, Ms Berejik­lian visited the then safe Liberal electorate to announce a $200,000 funding increase to prevent the North Wagga Public School from closing.

Ms Berejiklian on Monday said while her relationship was “close” and “personal”, it did not meet the threshold of an “intimate relationship”. “Irrespective of how I felt, we led completely separate lives,” she said. Ms Berejiklian has not been accused of corruption. Mr Maguire told ICAC that he had tried to shield Ms Berejiklian from the full extent of his financial impropriety during their years-long relationship, and said he knew the specifics would “cause her difficulties”. ICAC had previously heard recordings which showed Ms Berejiklian had shut down conversations about some of Mr Maguire’s business dealings, which she said she did because she was “bored and busy”.

Mr Maguire has admitted to using his parliamentary office to run a cash-for-visas scheme and lobbying MPs on behalf of developers from which he stood to make money.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers leader Robert Borsak said his support for government legislation would from here on be contingent on Ms Berejiklian either resigning or answering questions about the relationship and other matters.

“I have a problem believing her at all that she didn’t suspect he was behaving corruptly,” Mr Borsak said. “She has to answer this question: why didn’t she report his behaviour under Section 11 of the ICAC Act when she has a duty under that act to report corrupt conduct?” Section 11 of the ICAC Act states that the principal officer of a public authority has a duty to report any matter where there may be a “reasonable suspicion” of corrupt conduct.

NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham went further, saying he would not support the government on its legislative agenda until Ms Berejiklian vacated the position. The NSW Greens have similarly called for Ms Berejiklian to stand aside pending the ICAC’s final report. “We won’t be supporting the government until they get a premier who is honest and a cleanskin when it comes to integrity, and hasn’t failed in her statutory duty to report wrongdoing to ICAC,” Mr Latham said.

“Her moment of truth was the day Maguire left parliament in 2018 — she should have discharged her statutory duty (and made a statement), which she was legally obliged to do.”

Senior Liberal MPs remain supportive of their leader, but some continue to express discomfort with the quality of her explanations and the prospect of adverse ICAC findings. One said were Ms Berejiklian to resign it would likely trigger a number of by-elections — with Health Minister Brad Hazzard considered most likely to depart parliament. “If the commission finds that she should have acted earlier to report Maguire, then she’s got a real problem,” a second MP said.