Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s slow, painful end inevitable

Former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire leaves ICAC after his first three days of giving evidence in Sydney. Picture: Brett Costello

It is starting to look likely that Gladys Berejiklian’s leadership is shrinking to a ­bitter conclusion.

While some of her colleagues remain publicly supportive, enough of them are uncomfortable with the revelations that have emerged from the corruption hearings in Sydney. They also remain unpersuaded by the touchingly naive argument that she, and others, were duped by her carnival-barker of an ex-boyfriend, Daryl Maguire.

Each day the discussions are perceptibly shifting toward the logistics of a leadership handover, and what it will take to elevate these murmurings from a stage whisper to a practical and seamless transition.

Desperate to keep it all bloodless, the predominant view among Liberal MPs is that whatever happens needs to look somewhat civilised, a bit British, even. Nothing too loud nor sudden — no frenzied number-counting nor opportunities for a spectacle, no party whips in a parliamentary hallway announcing the results in front of a live bank of cameras.

It means that for the change to occur, Berejiklian will have to selflessly step aside of her own volition. And therein lies the problem: she has thoroughly and inexplicably walked herself into a psychological cul-de-sac where she genuinely and furiously believes no transgressions have been committed on her part, except those affecting her personal life.

Gladys Berejiklian outside State Parliament in Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Damian Shaw

Quite how she arrived at this remains mysterious and has drawn opponents to label her “delusional”. We know from the hearings that Maguire received commissions for spruiking property deals and that he personally lobbied parliamentary colleagues on behalf of developers.

If that was news to the ­Premier’s ear she would have more rope to cling to. Except the guy prattled on incessantly about his finances. Not once, not twice, but countless times.

You can actually hear the Premier’s long-­suffering sighing as Maguire convulses about these dealings down the phone line and talks about the need to melt the family silver to pay his debts. There are calls in which he rails against the bureaucrats doing nothing to help facilitate his profit-seeking, and text messages in which she congratulates him on at least one successful sale.

Daryl Maguire appears before ICAC as the final witness in the month-long probe into his dealings as a politician.

Her explanation for why none of this twigged as a problem? She assumed he was disclosing it all on paper, per his parliamentary responsibilities, an excuse that not only sounds absurd but, for a politician so expertly skilled in the art of self-preservation, rings suspiciously like the makeshifts of plausible deniability. It also goes nowhere to explain why she stopped him short on some occasions to state quite bluntly, “I don’t need to know about that bit,” or “I don’t need to know.”

One fact is certain: two hearing days involving Mr Maguire in the witness box remain. No further bombshells are necessary; a few errant syllables, at this point, would be enough to pierce the delicate membrane of her leadership.

Daryl Maguire fronts ICAC on Wednesday.