Corrupt or crucified? The Gladys Berejiklian saga shows that corruption commissions are a powerful thing

Gladys Berejiklian’s public standing is reduced rather than destroyed, writes Hugh Riminton. Composite: AAP

The heart is a strange muscle. What cavern of loneliness took a woman who ruled her world into the arms of Wagga Wagga wide boy Daryl Maguire? The Hay Plains grifter. A man whose nearly 20-year political career saw him never considered for a ministry or even the wastelands of a shadow ministerial role.

The relentless eye of Icac unearthed phone taps in which Maguire insisted: “Even when you are the Premier, I am the boss, all right?”