Baird ‘incredulous’, staffers spitting about Berejiklian revelations

Former NSW premier Mike Baird was “incredulous” when he found out Gladys Berejiklian and former Wagga MP Daryl Maguire had been in a “close personal relationship” for several years. 

Baird, who handed over the premiership to Berejiklian in 2017, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) hearing yesterday afternoon that the relationship should have been disclosed publicly as it represented a potential conflict of interest.

Had it been known it would have affected “what I did as premier”, he said. 

He added that Berejiklian, then treasurer, should not have participated in any decisions regarding Maguire’s electorate and absented herself from all relevant meetings.  

Baird’s feelings towards Maguire are not hard to guess. He says Maguire had been “aggressive” in his approach to requests for funding, and “abusive in his conduct towards members of staff [and] public servants”.

“This was not conduct which I supported.” 

Asked if Maguire had been treated with respect in the party room, he said there had been “concerns” about him. 

ICAC is investigating the circumstances in which a $5.5 million was granted to a gun club and $30 million was granted to the Riverina Conservatorium of Music, both in Maguire’s electorate, between 2016 and 2018. 

Berejiklian, who abruptly resigned from NSW Parliament two weeks ago, has denied all wrongdoing and will give evidence next week. She told ICAC late last year that she had been in a relationship with Maguire, who left the NSW Parliament following a separate ICAC inquiry. 

The questioning of witnesses by Berejiklian’s counsel Sophie Callan SC has given an indication of the former premier’s possible defence. Callan has been asking about the Coalition’s loss of the seat of Orange in a byelection and the party’s concerns about retaining the rural and regional electorates. 

It seems that faced with a choice of pleading that Berejiklian’s actions were simply “pork-barrelling” or “shoring up the electoral prospects of [her] boyfriend”, the legal team is focusing on the former. 

Raining dollar bills on marginal electorates is not against the law, as Berejiklian has already noted. Late last year, in response to a query about $140 million in grants approved close to the state election, she conceded that it was pork barrelling, but said there was nothing illegal about it.

It’s not unique to our government,” she said.

The WTF moment

“Sometimes you gotta say WTF.”

This was the reaction of former Baird adviser Nigel Blunden to the request for $5.5 million for the Australian Clay Target Association. Blunden was in the witness box this morning, trying hard to avoid revealing his disquiet over this questionable use of public money. He was quoting Joel Goodson (Tom Cruise’s character in the 1983 film Risky Business).

“What’s it going to be called, the Maguire International Shooting Centre of Excellence?” he asked facetiously, referring to the fact the proposal was being pushed by Maguire. 

Asked this morning by counsel assisting, Scott Robertson, if the proposal “went against all the principles of sound economic management”, Blunden agreed emphatically.  

ICAC has heard the business case was not subject to independent review and no feasibility study was undertaken.

Blunden’s memo was written two days before the state government’s expenditure review committee (ERC) considered the proposal on December 14, 2016, and ultimately gave the association $5.5 million.

“Gladys wants it,” he wrote in an email to colleagues. His notes also said: “No doubt [they’ve] done a sweetheart deal with Daryl,” but “this goes against all the principles of sound economic management”.

“I can’t recall exactly why I used that phrase,” Blunden told ICAC, adding that he was not suggesting anything improper.

Yesterday afternoon ICAC released transcripts of private hearings which indicated that Baird was circumspect about the gun club proposal. 

Zach Bentley was interviewed in a private hearing at ICAC in April. The former adviser to Berejiklian who had also interned in Maguire’s office while at university is not accused of any wrongdoing. He told ICAC he believed Blunden “queried why we were giving funding to a clay target association in … a relatively safe seat”.

“Daryl [Maguire] would be quite, at times, abrupt and call you to, you know, to the effect of ‘Mate, Stuart’s office is holding up whatever particular proposal. Get the effing thing sorted. You know, I really need this for my electorate.’”

Bentley said: “I do recall [he and Maguire] had conversations about him thinking that was a necessity for his electorate.”

“Do you happen to know what view Ms Berejiklian, as treasurer, had in relation to the … Australian Clay Target Association proposal, that Mr Maguire was seeking to lobby for, including through you?” Robertson asked.

“I believe the treasurer was amenable to it,” Bentley said.

Asked when he first became aware of the relationship between Berejiklian and Maguire, Bentley said: “When I received a text message during the course of Ms Berejiklian’s evidence [at the ICAC in October last year], to which I spat my water out.”

“Literally spat your water out?” Robertson asked.

“Literally spat my water out. These are two people I’ve known quite well and the fact that I had no knowledge of it … it was quite shocking.”

The hearing continues.