KEY POINTS:
- The ICAC has handed down its findings into Gladys Berejiklian.
- The ICAC has ruled she acted corruptly during her relationship with Daryl Maguire.
- Ms Berejiklian was in a secret relationship with the disgraced MP.
Then-NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian agreed her secret boyfriend Daryl Maguire was "the boss" during a tapped phone conversation between the pair.
The revelation came in a report by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) released on Thursday, which ruled Ms Berejiklian engaged in "serious corrupt conduct" during the relationship, which continued even after she sacked Mr Maguire for corruption.
The ICAC has not called for a criminal prosecution of the former premier, though it will seek advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) over a case against Mr Maguire.
The report found Ms Berejiklian's actions were influenced by the relationship, and a desire to maintain it, on multiple occasions when she was treasurer and premier.
The pair maintained a secret relationship even after Ms Berejiklian sacked Mr Maguire for corruption. Source: AAP
“Serving the people of NSW was an honour and a privilege. At all times I've worked my hardest in the public interest,” she said.
“Nothing in this report demonstrates otherwise. Thank you to members of the public for their incredible support, this will sustain me always.”
Tapped phone call shows Berejiklian agreed Maguire was 'the boss'
The report said the pair contemplated going public with their relationship, which was a secret even to their colleagues, if Mr Maguire retired in 2019 and also discussed the prospect of having children.
In one transcript of a tapped 2018 phone conversation, Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian he was "the boss" regardless of her role.
In the conversation, Mr Maguire criticises Ms Berejiklian - the premier at the time - for appearing "mean" to him in front of others.
MAGUIRE: I impress a lot of people. Why aren’t you impressed in front of people? You should be.
BEREJIKLIAN: That’s what I mean. I forget that I’m meant to be with you know, technically the premier so, you know. I get that.
MAGUIRE: Hmm, anyway.
BEREJIKLIAN: Normally, you’re the boss, and it’s hard when we have to switch it around. That’s the truth.
MAGUIRE: Yeah, but I am the boss, even when you’re the premier.
BEREJIKLIAN: I know. So therefore, it’s hard when I had to switch it around.
MAGUIRE: Glad, even when you are the premier I am the boss, alright?
BEREJIKLIAN: I know.
Berejiklian influenced by relationship: ICAC
The anti-corruption body handed its to NSW Parliament on Thursday morning, finding Ms Berejiklian "engaged in serious corrupt conduct by breaching public trust in 2016 and 2017" and in 2018.
That included failing to disclose her suspicion that Mr Maguire was "engaged in activities which concerned, or might have concerned, corrupt conduct", the ICAC found.
"[That] undermined the high standards of probity that are sought to be achieved by the ministerial code which, as premier, Ms Berejiklian substantially administered," it said.
The probe initially focused on Mr Maguire, but expanded to include Ms Berejiklian when the extent of their relationship became clear.
Ms Berejiklian's actions - as treasurer in 2016 and 2017, and as premier 2018 - were influenced by her desire to maintain the relationship on multiple occasions, the report found.
Then-treasurer Berejiklian exercised her duties related to the Australian Clay Target Association "influenced by the existence of [the pair's] close personal relationship", it found.
The ICAC wants advice from the DPP over criminal charges against Mr Maguire. Source: AAP
The report also ruled that Ms Berejiklian's actions over the Riverina Conservatorium of Music, which Mr Maguire also had lobbied for, were influenced "by a desire on her part to maintain or advance that relationship".
That related to the allocation of $30 million to the site, which is also in Mr Maguire's electorate.
"Ms Berejiklian submitted to the Commission that, as premier, the ministerial code did not apply to her," the report said.
"The Commission rejects that submission, and finds that Ms Berejiklian substantially breached the ministerial code by failing in her duty to act honestly and in the public interest in her conduct regarding the RCM proposal."
Berejiklian apparently gave conflicting accounts of the relationship
The ICAC's Operation Keppel was investigating whether Ms Berejiklian breached public trust, or encouraged corrupt conduct during her secret relationship with Mr Maguire, which continued even after she sacked him for corruption.
Ms Berejiklian made the shock revelation as she appeared before the ICAC in 2020, before quitting as NSW Premier the next year after the ICAC announced she was also under investigation.
She has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
In a recorded phone conversation played during the investigation, Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian he stood to make hundreds of thousands of dollars if land near the new western Sydney airport was rezoned.
"I don't need to know about that bit," the then-premier replied.
Ms Berejiklian told the ICAC she did not disclose the relationship because she did not feel it had "sufficient substance to be made public". That weekend, Ms Berejilikian told News Corp that she loved Mr Maguire and thought she could marry him one day.
The ICAC report found Mr Maguire misused his office while an MP. Mr Maguire had admitted corrupt conduct.
Nothing takes away from Berejiklian's 'excellent' COVID response: Chris Minns
Speaking soon after its release, NSW Premier Chris Minns said the report had “taken way too long” to be made public.
“Nothing in this report takes away from Premier Berejiklian’s handling of the COVID emergency, which I still regard as excellent,” he said.
“It's important, however, for all politicians … to understand that we must manage conflicts of interest and declare them … my government takes that warning incredibly seriously.”
Premier Minns said he had always been aware that there were “bad apples” within NSW Labor and supported the ICAC because it "investigates us as much".
NSW Premier Chris Minns says he still regards Ms Berejiklian's COVID response as 'excellent'. Source: AAP / Dean Lewins
"There may be circumstances where it's absolutely appropriate because the evidence is overwhelming, but that it shouldn't happen in an automatic way," he said.
"People have got a right to have an investigation and the final findings submitted to the public and the parliament before their political life [is] stopped or ended.
"When former Premier Berejiklian made a resignation, we didn't call for it. I didn't demand that she step down at the time. I think there's got to be a discussion in NSW about the ICAC being in existence, undertaking the role that it's legislated to do, while at the same time allowing for the work of government."
Former NSW treasurer Matt Kean, who remains an MP, lashed Thursday's development on Twitter.
"So it has taken ICAC two years to tell us that Gladys Berejiklian has not broken the law," he wrote.
"What a ridiculous display - ICAC turning a corruption report into a live TV event at Parliament House.
"This body deciding that 'serious corrupt conduct' has occurred, but then recommending no charges be laid because there is no evidence?"
Current NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman also took aim at the “unacceptable” delay, saying the people of NSW deserved a “timelier resolution”.
“Gladys Berejiklian led NSW with strength and determination through the most challenging conditions since the Second World War, including a one in a hundred years pandemic and record drought, bushfires and floods,” he said in a statement.
“The Opposition will consider the detailed content and recommendations in this report as expeditiously as possible.
“Daryl Maguire’s actions were a reprehensible abuse of his position."
