Gladys Berejiklian called in former premier Barry O’Farrell to convince Maguire to quit

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian asked a former premier to convince disgraced MP Daryl Maguire to quit.

Former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell in Sydney yesterday. Picture: AAP

Premier Gladys Berejiklian called on her political mentor, former premier Barry O’Farrell, to help force disgraced Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire, a former Liberal, out of parliament.

Mr O’Farrell, who resigned as premier over misleading the Independent Commission against Corruption over the gift of a $3000 bottle of wine in 2014, was asked by Ms Berejiklian to phone Mr Maguire to ask him to resign from parliament over an ICAC scandal. The request was made the night before she announced Mr Maguire would stand down.

The intervention by Mr O’Farrell, now a lobbyist with Racing Australia and a board member of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust, is understood to have followed representations he made to Ms Berejiklian on govern­ment appointments.

Mr O’Farrell lobbied Ms Berejiklian successfully to keep Sandra Chipchase as the head of Destination NSW when Tourism Minister Adam Marshall moved to dump her this year. Mr O’Farrell is also said to have lobbied the Premier to keep his friend Nihal Gupta on the board of the SCG Trust when there were moves last year to push him out.

Daryl Maguire. Picture: AAP

When Ms Berejiklian addressed the media on July 21, she said: “This morning I spoke to Mr Maguire, he advised me of his intention to resign from parliament before parliament resumes, I ­accepted that.”

But The Australian has learned that call came only after the Premier called on Mr O’Farrell, Mr Maguire’s former friend. Despite Mr Maguire’s agreeing to leave parliament after evidence in ICAC that he sought secret commissions from a developer, he has not formally resigned and is still paid more than $3000 a week. He is expected to quit before parliament resumes on August 7.

The resignation had created an argument between the Nat­ionals and Liberals over which Coalition partner should run for Wagga Wagga. The Nationals agreed not to run.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro had to threaten to quit as leader to get his state exec­utive to agree to Ms Berejiklian’s request that a Liberal contest the seat.