ICAC turmoil: Ministers fear Premier Gladys Berejiklian will hurt poll hopes
Senior Nationals believe Gladys Berejiklian should stand down as NSW Premier over the revelations emerging from the Daryl Maguire corruption inquiry.
Senior Nationals believe Gladys Berejiklian should stand down as NSW Premier over the revelations emerging from the Daryl Maguire corruption inquiry, saying she erred in her professional judgment and stands to harm the government’s re-election prospects if she remains leader.
While Ms Berejiklian retains the crucial support of some voters and the Liberal MPs in her cabinet, Nationals MPs and some of her Liberal colleagues say the scandal surrounding her relationship with Mr Maguire will leave the government vulnerable to attack over the coming months.
The Australian understands that some Liberal ministers are also privately concerned about the prospect of adverse findings by the Independent Commission Against Corruption against Ms Berejiklian, and the proximity of those findings being publicised close to the next state election, due to be held in 2023.
“There’s an awareness that we may have a problem in the future,” one MP said. “There is a belief that if things get bad, she will go.”
The ICAC hearings have complicated Ms Berejiklian’s formerly unblemished record of integrity in public office, revealing that she had maintained a years-long relationship with Mr Maguire despite sacking the MP in 2018 and publicly rebuking him over corruption allegations.
Additional questions have been levelled at the Premier over why she did not declare the relationship with Mr Maguire or report his financial dealings to authorities; misgivings remain within the government over her tendency to minimise her knowledge of aspects of their conversations.
Ms Berejiklian said early last week that she did not disclose the relationship, per the requirements under the NSW Ministerial Code of Conduct, because it lacked “sufficient status”. However, in an interview granted to The Sunday Telegraph she conceded she had been in love with Mr Maguire and considered that the relationship could have evolved into a marriage.
“I thought it could, yes,” she said.
Some Nationals MPs have been angered by Ms Berejiklian’s insistence that she erred on a personal level and did “nothing wrong” professionally.
They believe the episode could harm the government’s prospects, though they acknowledge that “swapping jockeys” could lead to its own “electoral hit” with voters.
“It’s absolutely damaging us all,” said one senior Nationals MP, who believed other ministers would not survive the revelations.
“The issue professionally is that she did know something was going on. If it was anyone else, she’d tell them to go.”
A second Nationals MP said Ms Berejiklian appeared likely to weather the scandal’s fallout in the short term, but professionally she had committed a grievous error that would linger and cause harm.
Multiple Liberal MPs have similarly described Ms Berejiklian’s future as a “death by a thousand cuts”.
“I think she should resign. Let someone else take over as leader with clear air to the election,” the second MP said.
“The problem is you can’t say to someone ‘I don’t want to hear that’. You can’t do that,” they said, referring to the Premier’s remarks on the intercepted phone calls.
A third Nationals MP who spoke to The Australian said the state’s achievements against the COVID-19 pandemic had provided credit to the Premier where, in other circumstances, the public would be less forgiving.
But, they said, Ms Berejiklian’s leadership appeared unsurvivable in the longer term.
“It will get to a point where she knows it’s not sustainable,” they said.
“There’s too much at stake, too many questions, the timing of the relationship.
“She will look at it politically and make a decision that’s best for the government.”