ICAC: I stuffed up in my personal life, but I won’t resign: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian reveals ‘close personal relationship’ with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire
Defiant NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian won’t stand down, despite revelations of ‘close relationship’ with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire who ‘let her down’ | WATCH
- I haven’t done anything wrong: Premier
- I stuffed up, but I won’t stand down: Berejiklian
- Maguire, Berejiklian’s ‘numero uno’, wanted to go public
- Premier won’t survive revelations, say NSW Libs
- Personal email and a ‘tickle from up top’
- How NSW ICAC hearings came to this
- Berejiklian confirms ‘close personal relationship’
Bombshell ICAC inquiry hears intercepted phone calls as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian admits five-year relationship with ‘my numero uno’ — disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.
Max Maddison 5.20pm: Relationship not worth mentioning, wasn’t ‘of sufficient status’
Despite sacking him in 2018, Gladys Berejiklian said she continued her relationship with Daryl Maguire on “compassionate grounds”, but said it wasn’t worth mentioning to the public because it wasn’t of “sufficient status”.
Ms Berejiklian forced the former Wagga Wagga member to resign in August 2018 after the Operation Dasher probe revealed he’d accepted a commission from a property development company.
“He was extremely angry with me, I was extremely angry with him, I sacked him, convinced him not only to leave parliament, but accosted others to help me convince him to leave parliament,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“But I also have to say, from a compassionate position, this is a person who — again, put yourself in my position. I’d known him for 15 years, he lost his career, his friends, he lost everything, and he was in a very dark place.”
Asked why she continued the relationship despite sacking Mr Maguire, Ms Berejiklian said she “carried a bit of guilt” about the matter in which he was forced to resign.
“I don’t want to divulge his personal circumstances, but I didn’t feel that I could not support him as a friend during that very difficult time in his life,” she said. “ … and I may not have been on the public record, but his son-in-law died the day I sacked him, and I carried a bit of guilt about those circumstances.”
Gladys Berejiklian said she believed Mr Maguire and his wife were separated when they began seeing each other in 2015.
Debbie Schipp 5.10pm: I haven’t done anything wrong: Premier
Ms Berejiklian described today as “hands down one of the most difficult days of my life”, and said personally, she had always believed herself to be a ‘good judge of character’ and would find it hard to trust anyone again.
“Where I have failed is in my personal life. I take full responsibility for that,” Ms Berejiklian said.
But she said ICAC had not accused her of wrongdoing and she was not obliged to disclose the relationship.
She said she would be the “first one” to resign if she had done anything wrong, but “I haven’t done anything wrong”.
Asked if she breached the ministerial code of conduct by not declaring pecuniary interests of someone with whom she was in a relationship, Ms Berejiklian said: “No, because the ICAC was very careful in the definition they used in terms of close personal relationship. They were very careful, and I’ve not been accused of any wrongdoing.”
Deputy Liberal Leader Dominic Perrottet, at Ms Berejiklian’s side for the press conference, backed the Premier saying she has always acted with the “utmost integrity and honesty”.
Ms Berejiklian said her former political mentor Barry O’Farrell — the last premier to resign due to an ICAC probe — had urged her to stay in the top job.
The opposition will move a motion of no confidence in the Premier on Tuesday.
“Look, I suspected they would do that and that’s their prerogative, but I have got the support of my colleagues,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Max Maddison 4.50pm: Maguire failed to influence, I failed in my personal life : Premier
Despite multiple intercepted phone calls in which Ms Berejiklian told Mr Maguire “I don’t need to know about that”, the Premier rejected the assertion she knew anything about the Badgerys Creek deal.
“Everybody held their ground, and this person was not able to acquire anything — or his friends, or his associates,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“He had a go, quite a few many times, but nothing transpired. And I want to say strongly to the people of this state — there is one way — one way — to come to the government to get things done, and that’s through the front door, through proper process.”
While Ms Berejiklian said Mr Maguire and his business associates had “failed” in their attempts to influence her, she said she had “failed in her personal life”.
“And what is comforting in what I regard as a personal nightmare — and I will call it a personal nightmare — you cannot appreciate, for someone who’s very private, for someone who is very by the book,” she said.
Berejiklian said she pushed Maguire out of parliament in 2018. “I was extremely angry with him. I sacked him, convinced him not only to leave parliament, but accosted others to help me convince him to leave parliament”.
Max Maddison 4.40pm: I stuffed up, but I won’t stand down: Berejiklian
Defiant NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian won’t stand down, despite revelations of ‘close relationship’ with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire who ‘let her down’.
After the “most difficult days” of her life, Ms Berejiklian has stared down calls to resign, vowing to continue serving the people of NSW.
After an explosive Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing, which detailed her “close personal relationship” with disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, Ms Berejiklian said with the benefit of hindsight, she wouldn’t have “made those personal decisions”.
“I stuffed up in my personal life,” she said.
“I trusted someone that I’d known for a long time, and I feel really, really let down. I trusted him for a long time. We were colleagues for 15 years,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“And I’m not going to take away from the fact that I made a mistake in my personal life, but I have to say that there is a huge separation between a personal life and public office.”
However, she rejected calls to resign, labelling her job as the “greatest privilege of my life”.
“And whilst I have made this mistake in my personal life, I intend to serve the people of New South Wales to the best of my ability. That’s what I’ve always done. I’ve sacrificed my life to public office, and I’m proud of that,” she said.
Max Maddison 3.45m: NSW Premier to front media
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is due to address the media at 4.30pm following bombshell ICAC allegations regarding her ‘close personal relationship’ with former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.
Watch the press conference live below.
Max Maddison 3.15pm: Maguire Berejiklian’s ‘numero uno’, wanted to go public
In February 2018, Daryl Maguire was attempting to leverage illegitimate business deals in a bid to find a career after he retired from politics in 2019 — so he could begin a public relationship with Gladys Berejiklian.
With an array of deals falling over, Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian he was working hard to find something that would enable him to retire in 2019, saying “I don’t want to stay, I want to go”.
“I have a meeting tomorrow morning with Joe, the Country Garden stuff has fallen through, I can’t just go to nothing,” Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian in a
“There’s no future doing stuff for the NSW government.”
“That’s why I’m giving you space, I’m not trying to stress you,” Ms Berejiklian replied.
The inquiry closed its doors to media and the public just before lunch as a ‘private’ intercepted phone call was played and.
When it reopened, Ms Berejiklian agreed she’d called Maguire her “numero uno” during the call because he was very important to her private life.
The hearing has finished for the day. Ms Berejiklian has been excused but hasn’t been dismissed from her summons, with counsel assisting the inquiry, Scott Robertson, saying she may need to appear again.
The inquiry will continue tomorrow, and will hear from Maggie Wang, Mr Maguire’s offsider and Mr Maguire himself.
Nicola Berkovic 3.00pm: Speakman ‘unaware’ of relationship, backs Berejiklian
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman says he was “unaware” of Gladys Berejiklian’s close personal relationship with former MP Daryl Maguire, who is at the centre of a corruption inquiry.
Mr Speakman refused to speculate about whether he would be a leadership contender if the Premier were to resign over the bombshell revelations.
“I was unaware of the close personal relationship about which she is giving evidence,” Mr Speakman said on Monday.
“I think she is a fantastic premier and it’s hard to think of a leader anywhere in the world who has handled, and is handling, COVID-19 as well as she has.”
Mr Speakman said he would “not speculate” on whether he would be a contender if the Premier decided to resign.
“She is a fantastic Premier,” he said. “She has my support.”
Max Maddison 2.15pm: Premier didn’t ‘need to know; about Maguire’s ‘little friend’
Gladys Berejiklian told Daryl Maguire she didn’t “need to know” about his “little friend”, moments after he told her to expect a meeting request from a property developer.
After informing the Premier about the problems facing “Sunito”, Mr Maguire told her he had introduced his “little friend to them”, which he said was “good news”.
“I don’t need to know which little friend you (are) talking about,” Ms Berejiklian told Mr Maguire in an intercepted phone call.
“With the polished head … so he was down there, I introduced him which was good,” Mr Maguire replied.
“They’re all frustrated still with planning, so absolutely frustrated. Still no decisions.”
The inquiry has adjourned briefly once again so Ms Berejiklian can be played evidence she hasn’t heard in a private hearing.
Sharri Markson 1.10pm: Premier won’t survive revelations, say NSW Libs
Senior NSW Liberals say Gladys Berejiklian’s tenure as Premier is over after today’s explosive ICAC evidence, with Attorney-General, Mark Speakman, and Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, emerging as the leading contenders for the top job.
The Premier, who is still giving evidence at an ICAC inquiry, is already under pressure to resign over conflicts involving her “close personal relationship” with former MP, Daryl Maguire – the man at the centre of the corruption inquiry.
While Mr Perrottet is positioned as a natural successor to Premier Berejiklian, some senior moderates are concerned he is too conservative, describing him as an “ultra right-winger” and saying they “won’t wear it”.
Mr Speakman is emerging as a rival contender and is said to have the support of some senior moderates, while others, like Matt Kean, are expected to support Mr Perrottet.
READ the full story here.
Max Maddison 1.00pm: Berejiklian knew of efforts to get her office to fix ‘big problem’
Daryl Maguire explicitly told Gladys Berejiklian that he was trying to get her office involved in a bid to help Louise Waterhouse fix a “big problem”.
In October 2018, with Ms Waterhouse’s efforts to get approval for an intersection near her Western Sydney development site not making headway, Mr Maguire told the Premier he had used his parliamentary position to try and get a positive outcome.
“She’s got a big problem so I took up to your office and said here can you help solve it. She’s got a lot of property out at Badgerys Creek,” Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian in an intercepted phone call.
“I got Jock (Sowter) to come down and got one bloke from your place to put their heads together and said look, why can’t you fix this.”
Max Maddison 12.35pm: I don’t need to know about that bit: Premier on $690,000 fee
After being told about the $690,000 fee he stood to make on the sale of a development site, Gladys Berejiklian told him, “I don’t need to know about that bit”.
In tendered evidence, Mr Maguire tells Ms Berejiklian in a phone call that the $330m sale of the development site near Badgerys Creek airport was close to being completed.
“William tells me we’ve done that deal, so hopefully that’s half of it gone,” Mr Maguire said.
“I don’t need to know about that bit,” Ms Berejiklian replied.
Max Maddison 12.35pm: Premier ‘shocked, disturbed’ by illegal ‘cash for visa’ scam
Gladys Berejiklian knew intimate details about Daryl Maguire’s business ventures, asking about the de facto director of Mr Maguire’s company G8wayinternational — a company which ran an illegal “cash for visa” scam.
In another intercepted phone call, Mr Maguire told the Premier that Phil Elliott — the director and sole shareholder of the company the former Wagga Wagga MP controlled from behind the scenes — was travelling to China on a business trip.
“I thought you said he wasn’t very good at that?,” Ms Berejiklian asked Mr Maguire.
Yet the Premier maintained she had no knowledge about the illegitimate visa scheme nor that he wasn’t following the appropriate protocols in disclosing his business interest to parliament.
“I had no reason to think Mr Maguire wasn’t making the appropriate disclosures at the appropriate time,” she said.
“I’m shocked and disturbed by what has been revealed.”
READ MORE: Staffer’s office raided for hidden evidence
Max Maddison 12.20pm: Premier can’t recall ‘big talker’s’ call on land sale profits
Daryl Maguire told Gladys Berejiklian he stood to make a substantial financial gain from the sale of the Waterhouse’s Smart Sydney Western Site near Badgerys Creek airport.
In the intercepted phone call from September 2017, Mr Maguire told the Premier he stood to make “enough money to pay off his debts” from the proposed $330m sale. The inquiry has previously heard that fee was likely to be around $690,000.
Yet Ms Berejiklian said she had “no recollection” of the phone call, and said she wouldn’t have placed any weight on the information because Mr Maguire was a “big talker”.
“I’m not sure it would have registered with me,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Asked whether she had any recollection of him mentioning the sale, Ms Berejiklian said she didn’t outside of the phone call which had been played in a private ICAC hearing.
READ MORE: ICAC told of attempt to destroy evidence
Caroline Overington 12.10pm: Personal email and a ‘tickle from up top’
COMMENT: Okay, so, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, had a “close personal relationship’ with a colleague, who is now being investigated for corruption.
That’s stunning.
But also, he apparently gave her personal email to a property developer, saying it might help the deal, to get “a tickle from up top.”
As wording goes, it couldn’t really be more unfortunate, could it?
A tickle from up top, when your lover is the Premier?
Some commentators are now saying she will now have to resign, but let’s take a step back, because NSW has only just voted this premier in.
She has been a solid performer on Covid – maybe even the nation’s best – keeping the state open, and the infection rate low, and if this is just about her sex life, well, who cares?
It is being described as stunning in part because Berejiklian has always been, as she said this morning, “a very private person.”
She has never, as far as anyone can remember, mentioned having any kind of partner.
She is not married and she has no children, which is why people ware walking around this morning saying: “Gladys?” Yes, Gladys.
Really?
Yes, really.
Because she’s at the opposite end of the spectrum from, say, Jacqui Lambie, who makes plain her frustration with the paucity of male talent out there (and good for Jacqui.)
Gladys’ private life has always been exactly that: private.
You can see why: open the door even a crack on these matters, and you open it forever, and that can be completely devastating for women, in particular.
But this does look messy.
The man in question is Daryl Maguire, who until recently had a wife, Maureen, and two kids.
ICAC has already taken testimony which suggests that he wanted an extra term in parliament, in part because he had to give Maureen a $1 million settlement, as part of their divorce.
Maureen was removed from his Wikipedia page only as recently as September.
The premier says her relationship with him ended “a few months ago.”
Still, these things should matter only if they impair one’s political judgment, or if there’s actual wrong doing.
With that in mind, Maguire was forced to quit parliament in 2018 after being accused – he’s not yet convicted of anything – of trying to broker property deals on behalf of a Chinese developer.
ICAC is looking into allegations that he misused his public office, for personal financial gain.
No findings have yet been made, but the “tickle from up top” email isn’t a good look.
It looks for all the world like he thought the Premier might use her influence to help him out.
She says she would “never, ever, never” have turned a blind eye to wrongdoing, not even for a lover.
Ms Berejiklian has also told the inquiry that she cut off all contact with “that individual” – Maguire – when it became apparent that she’d have to give evidence at these hearings.
That said, the detail tends to get lost in these scandals, doesn’t it?
There may indeed turn out to be no fire, but people always remember the smoke
READ MORE: Cash gave the game away, ICAC told
Max Maddison 11.45am: Berejiklian didn’t ‘care’ or ‘dwell’ on Maguire’s debts
Intercepted phone calls heard Mr Maguire telling Ms Berejiklian about his intimate financial problems, but she maintains she didn’t “care” or “dwell on it”.
Despite complaining that he was currently $1.5m in debt, and hearing about his plans to “invest $1000 in NAB shares”, Ms Berejiklian said her tone suggested she wasn’t that interested in his problems.
“I don’t want to give anyone the impression I dwelled on it,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“I’m chiding him for always obsessing about his finances.”
“Are you trying to downplay your relationship with Mr Maguire?” Mr Robertson asked Ms Berejiklian.
“No,” Ms Berejiklian asserted.
However, Mr Robertson said it was clear that she knew and “understood” his personal affairs.
The hearing has taken a brief adjournment while evidence, yet to be heard by Ms Berejiklian and her lawyer, is played for them in a private hearing before being made public in the corruption inquiry.
READ MORE: Ex-MP ‘got cash for visa scheme’
Max Maddison 11.30am: How the NSW ICAC inquiry came to this
The fifteenth day of the corruption inquiry into disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has focused on his range of illegitimate business dealings which ranged from 2012 until he was forced to resign in August 2018.
The Operation Keppel probe has heard that Mr Maguire repeatedly misused his in pursuit of his own business interest and those of his associates, and the inquiry has lasered in on four key areas.
An illegitimate “cash for visa” scam Mr Maguire ran with his offsider Maggie Wang, part of a company called G8wayinternational. The pair paid Riverina-based businesses tens of thousands of dollars in cash to sign falsified immigration documents, enabling Chinese nationals to obtain visas without undertaking any work.
Second, attempts by Mr Maguire to use his parliamentary position as chairman of the Asia Pacific Friendship Group to stitch together business deals for a Chinese based business group named Shenzhen Asia Pacific Commercial Development Association. This included trying to obtain a casino license, part of a waterfront development, in Samoa.
Third, Mr Maguire lobbying his parliamentary colleagues on behalf of the daughter of racing royalty, Louise Raedler Waterhouse. The former Wagga Wagga MP attempted to help Ms Waterhouse obtain planning permission for a Western Sydney development which he stood to gain a $690,000 fee.
Mr Maguire passed on Ms Berejiklian’s personal email address to Ms Waterhouse, but urged her not to mention him because it would be “ICACable”.
Lastly, the inquiry has heard about the array of Sydney-based property developers which Mr Maguire maintained a close relationship with, and often attempted to find investment opportunities on behalf of. This included helping property developer Joseph Alha try and remove unfriendly applications to the Independent Hearing and Assessment Panels.
READ MORE: Ex-MP gave Waterhouse Premier’s email
Max Maddison 11.10am: Phone tap: Maguire says he’ll go to China and ‘go feral’
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Scott Robertson, has focused on an intercepted phone call between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire, which the former Wagga Wagga MP tells the Premier he’ll go to China and “go feral”.
Despite conceding that Mr Maguire’s planned trip to China was “inappropriate”, Ms Berejiklian couldn’t explain why she didn’t try to convince him not to go on the phone call.
“Of course I’ll interfere, because these bureaucrats don’t care,” Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian.
Sky News Political Editor @aclennell says "there's a good chance Gladys Berejiklian will have to resign" over the revelation she was having a relationship with disgraced former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire. https://t.co/NzEgGWQWKj
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) October 12, 2020
“If they want to resolve the issue, they need to get off their fat asses and do something.”
“Niall (Blair) said he’d raise the issue,” Ms Berejiklian responded.
On Friday, ICAC heard Mr Maguire threatened to ambush the then primary industries minister in Shanghai, after a Chinese company decided to divest from United World Enterprise – a Riverina-based company which the former Wagga Wagga member intended on becoming a board member.
READ MORE: Minister linked to ex-Lib MP’s scam
Max Maddison 10.20am: Congratulations on $5000 commission
Premier Gladys Berejiklian had a “close personal relationship” with disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, and congratulated him on receiving a $5000 commission, a corruption inquiry has heard.
In an explosive morning hearing at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Ms Berejiklian said she had begun a relationship with Mr Maguire in 2015 after the state election.
In a text exchange tendered as evidence, Ms Berejiklian congratulated the former Wagga Wagga MP for receiving a $5000 commission.
Under questioning from counsel assisting the inquiry, Scott Robertson, Ms Berejiklian admitted she was likely to have made her relationship “public” if Mr Maguire had followed through with plans to retire in 2018 – months before he was forced to resign after the Operation Dasher probe.
Asked why she didn’t make the relationship public beforehand, the Premier said “I’m a very private person”.
Despite saying she maintained a “close friendship” for up to 15 years, Ms Berejiklian categorically rejected the assertion she knew about Mr Maguire’s illegitimate business schemes, saying she thought he “disclosed them at the appropriate time”.
In addition, Ms Berejiklian told Mr Robertson she had “no idea what UWE was”, despite Mr Maguire’s threats to ambush then trade minister Niall Blair on a trip to Shanghai reaching her then chief of staff Sarah Cruickshank.
However, in an intercepted phone call tendered as evidence, Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian about his plans to visit Shanghai, a call which the Premier said she only remembered after hearing at the hearing.
On Friday, ICAC heard Mr Maguire became incensed after Bright Foods, a Chinese company, decided to divest from a UWE company in the Riverina.
In an email, Mr Maguire also forwarded on his complaints from Charlie Demian, a property developer who was a business associate of Mr Maguire, which he said “can you please try to get this important project moving asap” to the Premier’s personal email address.
READ MORE: Premier’s office ‘on alert’ over MP’s ambush’
Lane Sainty 10.20am: Berejiklian confirms ‘close personal relationship’
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has told the Independent Commission Against Corruption that she was in a “close personal relationship” with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire before cutting off all contact with him earlier this year.
But Ms Berejiklian said the relationship “never” influenced her behaviour as premier, saying she took conflicts of interest extremely seriously and was an “independent woman with my own finances”.
“If you‘re suggesting that I cared about his financial position, I reject that completely,” she said. “I did not care.”
The Premier is appearing before ICAC as part of an investigation into alleged breaches of public trust committed by Mr Maguire, who is accused of using his public office for financial gain.
She vigorously denied that the relationship was ever a conflict of interest or influenced her behaviour as Premier.
“I would always make sure that things were done in the proper way, and that is something I feel extremely strongly about,” she said.
“Every public servant, every colleague who ever worked with me, knows the high standards that I apply to myself and to those around me. And I would never, ever compromise those high standards for anybody or anything.”
Ms Berejiklian said the relationship began after the 2015 election and she decided to cease contact with him after she appeared at a private ICAC hearing in August.
Their last conversation was on September 13, she said.
She said the relationship was not known among their colleagues as she is a “very private person” and didn’t feel it had “enough substance” to make public.
She said that prior to July 13, 2018, — when Mr Maguire appeared before ICAC leading to Ms Berejiklian demanding his resignation — she had no concerns he was using his office to promote his own business activities.
“That was my understanding, and if there was any, any inclination to the contrary, I would have taken action.”
Ms Berejiklian is being represented by Arthur Moses SC who recently appeared for Unified Security at Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry.
The commission has previously heard from property developer Joseph Alha that he “bumped into” the Premier during a night drinking with Mr Maguire at NSW parliament.
The commission has also heard racing identity Louise Waterhouse sent an email lobbying about a planning issue to Ms Berejiklian’s direct email address, which is usually only used by fellow ministers or public servants.
READ MORE: Berejiklian called as ICAC witness over Maguire
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