ICAC turmoil; ALP eyebrows raised, suspicions misplaced

Gladys Berejiklian’s rivals thought she was ‘shielding’ Daryl Maguire because he had forged a close bond with Arts ­Minister Don Harwin.

NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Gladys Berejiklian’s rivals thought she was “shielding” Daryl Maguire after corruption accusations were levelled against him because he had forged a close bond with one of her key factional allies, Arts ­Minister Don Harwin.

They never suspected she was in a relationship with Mr Maguire.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Walt Secord told The Australian Ms Berejiklian’s handling of the scandal was so out of character it was openly discussed in the halls of parliament and raised in the chamber in August 2018, when the Premier and her colleagues voted down a motion to refer Mr Maguire to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

“Everyone was perplexed why she wasn’t acting on this character (Mr Maguire),” he said.

“She had campaigned on being strong on corruption and then she went silent. It was like we had all stepped on a landmine, heard a click and nothing happened. We didn’t realise the magnitude of what was going on and that it was due to her own personal relationship with him.”

The allegations surrounding Mr Maguire emerged when he got caught up in a separate investigation by ICAC into a western Sydney council and he was forced to quit parliament in July 2018 after admitting he had sought payment in exchange for brokering a deal for a Chinese property developer.

While Mr Secord said he knew something was amiss in the Premier’s response to the revelations, he had “been looking in the wrong ­direction” and completely missed any hint of the true nature of Ms Berejiklian’s involvement with the disgraced former MP.

Hansard transcripts reveal Mr Secord raised the Premier’s reluctance to refer Mr Maguire to ICAC in the chamber on August 14, 2018, saying he could not fathom the ­decision, given the former Wagga Wagga MP had “shepherded clients into the ministerial suites of the government to get personalised attention and hearings from senior ministers and their staff”.

“Why is there resistance? Sadly, I know why the Premier and the leader of the government are resisting the right path so strongly — it is because former member Daryl Maguire was and is a close friend of the leader of the government, the Hon. Don Harwin. You can see them spending hours in smoky corridors in leather chairs discussing business,” he said.

“In parliament last week, we saw the excruciating spectre of Premier Gladys Berejiklian refusing to refer the member for Wagga Wagga to the ICAC. We saw the Liberal‑Nationals close ranks and vote down a motion to refer Daryl Maguire to the ICAC.

“For three days in the Legislative Assembly the Premier refused to answer questions from Labor on the conduct of the former member for Wagga Wagga.

“It was a shameless spectacle that led to a shameful vote of 44 to 35. Even the member for Sydney, Mr Alex Greenwich, who always votes with the government, was unable to stomach the Premier saddling up to defend the former member for Wagga Wagga. “

Mr Secord said it had been incumbent on the Premier to reveal she had been in a relationship with Mr Maguire since March 2015 given their respective positions and the seriousness of the allegations against the former Liberal Party whip.

“One hundred per cent she should have disclosed the relationship — and we now know, in retrospect, that she shielded him for 2000 days,” he said.