ICAC inquiry: Dodgy Daryl draws the line at just one thing

Daryl Maguire did a lot of bad things while he was a NSW MP, but he never pimped out Gladys. That would be a step too far.

Daryl Maguire appears before ICAC. Picture: Sky News

Dodgy Daryl Maguire did a lot of bad things while he was an MP in NSW.

But he never pimped out Gladys.

We’re using that word in the business sense, meaning: he never took a fee for bringing Chinese businessmen into her orbit, or indeed into the orbit of any of his fellow MPs.

That would, he said, be going too far.

What was curious was how Maguire – an MP in NSW for nineteen years – said this with a touch of pride in his voice, like there are some rocks under which even he will not slither.

As to everything else – monetising his office; seeking to profit from his status a parliamentarian; taking clips on business deals; forcing poor Chinese immigrants into deals under which they effectively have to pay their own wages for years on end in exchange for visas – well, yes, he did all that.

But money for meet-and-greets?

Absolutely not.

Can we believe him? Maguire has this morning admitted to so much wrongdoing it is hard to know where to start.

Yes, he told the ICAC hearing, he understood that he was not supposed to use his status as an MP to advance his own financial position.

He did it anyway.

Yes, he knew that he was not supposed to run a private company from his parliamentary office, and he did it anyway.

Maguire agreed that he had, during his time in parliament, been appointed chair of one of the many extremely shady “parliamentary friendship groups” that flourish in NSW like furballs in a cat’s throat.

For the record, pretty much all those groups are formed just like a furball.

Maguire agreed that he used his role as chair of the “Asia Pacific Friendship Group” as a networking opportunity, with the aim of making money.

He agreed that he turned his parliamentary office in Sydney’s Macquarie Street into an office for a private company rather cheesily called “G8way International.”

G8way was paid $5500 to set a meeting up with Chinese businessmen and Barry O'Farrell in 2012. He says it was just to cover costs.

He agreed that he hoped to get clips on deals made by G8way.

He agreed that he was “G8way Daryl” on some emails, and an MP, with a Parliament House address, on others.

And no, he never declared his involvement, nor any income received, to parliament.

But then, when it came to the question of whether he’d ever pimped anyone out, meaning, whether he’d ever taken a fee in exchange for introducing this business or that one to an MP, or indeed the Premier, he suddenly got all forthright in his denials.

“That would be going too far,” he insisted.

To be clear, his former girlfriend – Gladys Berejiklian – wasn’t Premier when he was hoping to get a clip on deals involving coal, milk, tin, goal, and automated car washing machines.

She’s Premier now.

She says she kept herself isolated from Maguire’s septicity.

The quarantining has continued this morning, with Maguire giving his evidence at precisely the same moment as her press conference, on her future.

He was digging a hole.

She was digging in.