Don’t blame Gladys Berejiklian while she’s blaming deadbeat boyfriend Daryl Maguire

This latest scandal continues a long tradition of reality distortion by Gladys Berejiklian in a political crisis.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian leaves her home this morning after ICAC findings of a personal relationship with disgraced MP Daryl Maguire were exposed. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Right, so Gladys Berejiklian can thunder on about the misdeeds of Daryl Maguire, sack him from parliament, issue a statement brimming with anger that he “let down the people of NSW”, his constituents, the Liberal Party, bloody everyone … then carry on seeing him in secret for two years.

Gladys Berejiklian with disgraced MP Darryl Maguire.

“If I had done something wrong, I would be the first one to consider my position, but I haven’t,” Berejiklian hit back on Monday, barely hours after decamping from her swivel chair at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, where she spent the day writhing in comical agony.

This, of course, continues a long tradition of reality distortion by the Premier in a political crisis. Nothing is ever Berejiklian’s fault as long as she can play the victim. And, boy, this case is no exception.

A quick recap of the facts. Not only did the Premier maintain a close personal relationship with a politician whose alleged corruption extended to the very tips of his hairline, she was also drawn into a universe of spurious land deals and shady characters hurtling within Maguire’s orbit, the Jimmys and Williams, the occasional nudge-nudge of coded language involving “big problems” and “little friends”.

This was all revealed in the excruciating vivisection of their phone calls and texts.

Bizarrely of all, perhaps, was the moment she told Maguire she “didn’t need to know that bit”, during yet another chat about his financial headless chickenry. Was it because she knew he was up to no good? Knew it could impugn her position? Of course not.

“I have no direct recollection but I probably would have firstly not regarded it as interesting to me. I always assumed, rightly or wrongly, that he was making full disclosures when he needed to,” she said, an utterance that, mealy as it feels on the tongue, could go well as the opening lines of a resignation statement.

But there will be none of that, for now. The only mistake she was prepared to concede is an error of judgment in pairing with the unctuous Maguire, a deadbeat boyfriend in the Lester Diamond mould. What’s just slightly tragic is that the Premier may have seen a future with this “numero uno”, as she once called him. That was the plan: he would make his money, end his debts, quit parliament, and then their relationship could be made public.