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Liberal MPs have leapt to the defence of corrupt former premier Gladys Berejiklian, describing her as a strong and popular leader who should have disclosed her relationship with disgraced former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.
After the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) found the former premier engaged in serious corrupt conduct, Berejiklian’s former parliamentary colleagues were quick to praise their former leader and condemn Maguire, with whom she was in a “close personal relationship”.
Then-premier Gladys Berejiklian and then-Attorney General Mark Speakman in 2018.Credit: Brook Mitchell
Labor Premier Chris Minns said the ICAC’s findings should not detract from Berejiklian’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he described as “excellent”.
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the Berejiklian he observed while serving as attorney-general in her government was “an honest MP who served the people of NSW with incredible dedication”, but conceded he would expect a member of his party to disclose relevant personal relationships such as that between Berejiklian and Maguire.
“We were all gobsmacked when that [relationship] emerged,” he said. “If those findings of fact stand up, then, in hindsight, I would have expected as a minister for that to be disclosed.
“The findings suggest completely reprehensible behaviour by Daryl Maguire – he has brought disgrace upon himself and disgrace upon the parliament.”
Manly MP James Griffin said the ICAC report would not change the minds of “millions of people” across NSW, who “know her as someone who led them through some very tough times”.
Tim James, who succeeded Berejiklian in the seat of Willoughby, said residents of the electorate were fortunate to have “such a dedicated and hard-working local member”, while NSW Liberals deputy leader Natalie Ward said her legacy “transforming the state” would stand the test of time.
Minns and Speakman again criticised the ICAC for the time it took to hand down the report, vowing bipartisanship on reforms to speed up the process, such as requiring the ICAC to give itself deadlines for publishing its findings.
Matt Kean, the state’s former treasurer and a Berejiklian ally, accused the watchdog of sensationalising the report and making corruption allegations without evidence.
“What a ridiculous display – ICAC turning a corruption report into a live TV event at Parliament House,” he wrote on Twitter while ICAC representatives handed their reports to upper house president Benjamin Franklin and lower house speaker, Greg Piper.
“It has taken ICAC two years to tell us that Gladys Berejiklian has not broken the law,” Kean wrote 10 minutes later.
Pressed by the ABC on whether he thought politicians should still be held to account for corrupt conduct which did not meet the threshold for criminal charges, shadow attorney-general Alister Henskens said the ICAC’s verdict was “only one opinion”.
“I do not want to be understood to be in any sense suggesting that integrity in government is not important … but when most people think of corruption, they think of bribery akin to personal financial benefits, the kind of financial benefits that Eddie Obeid and others that have been found seriously corrupt received,” he said. “That is not the case here with regards to Gladys Berejiklian.”
But the Greens spokesperson on corruption, Balmain MP Kobi Shetty, said it was ridiculous to suggest the ICAC should not report corruption that falls below the threshold for prosecuting potential criminal charges.
“Whether that [finding] gets prosecuted by the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] or not, we do not want politicians in this place who are making decisions based on conflicts of interest, and not disclosing those conflicts of interest,” she said.
Berejiklian’s current employer Optus had no comment beyond referring to her brief media statement, where she said she had always worked in the public interest and her legal team was examining the ICAC report.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not comment on the ICAC findings when he appeared alongside Minns at a press conference in Sydney on Thursday morning.
But the ICAC report was watched closely in Canberra, where a new National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will begin investigating corruption complaints from July 1.
Federal Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi, who served as a former member of the NSW legislative council before moving to federal politics, said the NACC would be an important step towards rebuilding public trust in politics and politicians, which she said had been damaged by Thursday’s findings.
“There is much more to do – banning dirty donations, stopping the revolving door between politics and industry lobbyists and ending the entrenched networks of privilege among the powerful elite,” she said.
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