Gladys Berejiklian: Unapologetic exit opens possibility of Labor victory

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns. Picture: Justin Lloyd

For almost a year, the writing has been on the wall for Gladys Berejiklian’s leadership. While it might have appeared that her problems with the state’s corruption watchdog had evaporated during the course of the pandemic, few people familiar with the evidence could have doubted her resignation was inevitable, and perhaps even necessary.

This was all sealed the moment she sat in the witness box at ICAC in October 2020. What began with an admission of an undeclared relationship with a corrupt former MP, Daryl Maguire, soon gave way to congratulatory texts praising his efforts to procure commissions from a property developer.

From that point alone it defied belief that she could even consider staying on as leader, but her job remained assured through the support of opportunistic colleagues, many of whom knew their electoral survival depended on her.

Capitalising early, she took steps to seize the narrative, assuming the role of the hapless victim, the hardworking fun-sponge caught in a deadbeat’s web of knavery and deceit, a myth which endures to this day.

Friday’s developments merely reflect that she always was on borrowed time.

Since her ICAC appearance, there has also emerged a steady trail of paperwork illuminating further allegations of grants funding and other conflicts, all of which have worked to complicate her insistence of a career defined by the highest standards of moral conduct.

Astoundingly, the outgoing premier continued to advance these absurd statements on Friday, remaining unapologetic, defiant, and claiming she had “always acted with the highest level of integrity”.

These words may soon come to haunt Berejiklian, given the bombshell statement released by the ICAC announcing a wholesale recalibration of its inquiry to place her squarely at the centre of its investigation.

She leaves behind shoes that none of her colleagues are fit to fill, making the prospect of a Labor government in 2023 a striking possibility. But by going on a note so unapologetic, she has condemned her successor to an extremely difficult task. Voters are unlikely to accept her departure, or her replacement.