Premier’s lover told her about debt-busting deal

Daryl ­Maguire told Gladys Berejiklian he stood to clear his debts with a million-dollar windfall from a property deal with Louise Waterhouse.

Daryl Maguire arrives at the ICAC in Sydney with this lunch on Thursday. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Former Liberal MP Daryl ­Maguire excitedly told his former girlfriend, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, that he stood to clear his debts with a million-dollar windfall from a property deal he was organising with racing heiress Louise Waterhouse.

In a tense second day of questioning at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Mr Maguire was grilled on the sale of the land at Badgerys Creek and his persistent work lobbying senior members of parliament on behalf of property developers.

Mr Maguire conceded it was possible he mentioned Ms Waterhouse’s name to the NSW Premier during their conversations about the sale of the land in Sydney’s outer west. He said the successful sale could secure him a commission of up to $1.5m — enough to clear his debts.

Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Mr Maguire’s misuse of public office.

She told ICAC on Monday that she had assumed his lobbying ­activities had been fully disclosed.

“It looks like we finally got the Badgerys Creek stuff done, that’s good,” Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian, referring to the sale of Ms Waterhouse’s land.

“I’ll be glad what that’s done ’cause I’ll make enough money to pay off my debts (laughs). Can you believe it?”

“I can believe it,” Ms Berejiklian responded.

The Premier angrily dismissed questions in parliament on Thursday but did not make any public appearances.

She demanded NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay repeat her suggestions that Ms Berejiklian may have misled ICAC outside parliament, where she would not be ­protected by the rules of parliamentary privilege.

“I ask her to withdraw it or say it out there. Either withdraw it or say it outside,” Ms Berejiklian said.

After a morning spent canvassing Mr Maguire’s business affiliations, the hearings moved off-camera for an extended private session to examine subject matter that was said to involve issues of “considerable personal privacy”.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at NSW Parliament in Sydney on Thursday. Picture: Dominic Lorrimer

Mr Maguire had earlier told Scott Robertson, counsel assisting the inquiry, that he and Ms Berejiklian had been friends for a number of years, but their relationship moved closer around 2015 or 2016. “It was ‘on again, off again’ from, so, yeah, about then,” he said.

The line of questioning then moved to examine how much ­information he had shared with the Premier about his dealings in Badgerys Creek, and other projects, including whether he made her aware of the involvement of the Waterhouse family.

Mr Maguire said it was likely he had spoken to Ms Berejiklian about the Badgerys Creek deal in some level of depth, as audio recordings played to the hearing seemed to attest. However his memory of specific information, not captured by the calls, remained vague, he said.

“I don’t know if I ever went into specifics; it was just broad discussion stuff,” he said.

Asked about Ms Waterhouse, Mr Maguire initially said he could not remember mentioning her name. Under further questioning he conceded “perhaps, yes”, he had mentioned it to the Premier.

“Well, perhaps or yes?” asked Mr Robertson.

“Oh, I’m not sure. I, I’m just not sure,” Mr Maguire said.

The former Wagga Wagga MP admitted he orchestrated a “drop-in” meeting in parliament between Ms Berejiklian and property developer Joseph Alha, in 2017, while they were drinking wine in his office.

The “drop-in” was arranged after Mr Alha failed to secure a formal meeting with Ms Berejiklian for a “site-specific” discussion. Such meetings do not need to be noted for formal record keeping purposes.

“As the night wore on a little, Joe became a little insistent that we just pop in and say hello to Glad,” Mr Maguire said.

He added that the drop-in ­occurred but it was short and involved mere “niceties” being ­exchanged.

“You were lending the weight of your office in parliament to development projects in areas other than Wagga Wagga,” Mr Robertson said.

“Yes,” Mr Maguire replied.

The Premier was not the only politician Mr Maguire sought to connect with business affiliates. An intercepted phone call played to the inquiry heard of attempts to arrange a meeting between Mr Alha and Transport Minister ­Andrew Constance over the site of a new train station.

Water Minister Melinda Pavey, then roads minister, was also drawn into discussions around the Waterhouse deal to sell land at Badgerys Creek.

“I do remember getting a call from Daryl Maguire at some point last year, middle of last year maybe, about this, suggesting that my agency got it all wrong,” Ms Pavey told ICAC investigators.

“This was going to hold up potential work and a lot of thought that had gone on from business people in western Sydney.”

Liberal MP Tanya Davies also told of being lobbied by Mr Maguire in relation to the Waterhouse deal. She told investigators that she agreed to meet the racing heiress to talk about access improvements to the Waterhouse development site, which was located in her electorate of Mulgoa.