For some in New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian will forever remain a woman who was brought low by a dodgy boyfriend.
When Berejiklian resigned as premier in October 2021, after the Independent Commission against Corruption expanded its Operation Keppel to focus on her, there were strong and competing emotions among the public: shock, disappointment, indignation, even abandonment.
After all, Berejiklian had been a constant in our lives through Covid, a steady and competent premier. Flowers were laid at the door of her electorate office.
But now we have a 700-page report from the Icac which, in great detail, lays out why it considers that the former premier of New South Wales’ legacy is far more serious.
It is disturbing reading.
It finds that Berejiklian engaged in serious corrupt conduct, that she was, “in many respects”, an unsatisfactory witness and that she breached the public trust she held as premier.
But it also raises very serious questions about her judgment, in both her personal life and in attempting to compartmenalise it from her public duty.
The first thing to note is there are new details about the depth of Berejiklian’s relationship with the former MP for Wagga Wagga, Daryl Maguire, who has also been found to have engaged in corrupt conduct.
We first learned of the secret relationship between Berejiklian and Maguire in 2020, when Berejiklian was summoned to give evidence at Icac.
Maguire was already under a cloud, having been caught on tape in an earlier inquiry, canvassing possible commissions for property deals. He resigned from parliament in 2018, after Berejiklian sacked him from her ministry and the Liberal party.
He then became the target of a separate investigation, Operation Keppel.
Suddenly, during the first set of hearings in 2020, we learned Berejiklian was in a “close personal relationship” with Maguire. At this point, the whole of NSW thought Berejiklian was single and a workaholic.
In her evidence, Berejiklian attempted to paint the relationship as “not of sufficient status” to warrant disclosure to her colleagues or even her family.
The Icac report reveals a different picture. The pair had been exchanging intimate text messages since mid-2014. Icac also says the relationship continued until September 2020, ending just a week before the hearings in Operation Keppel took place.
Text exchanges not made public until now reveal they both referred to Berejiklian’s Sydney home as “home”. In one text to Maguire she said: “You are my family”.
In other words, the relationship ran for six years, and continued even after Maguire had been forced to leave parliament in July 2018 and was facing a separate inquiry into his conduct.
Icac did not make an overall finding about Berejklian’s credibility, but said Berejiklian was “an unsatisfactory witness in many respects”, who treated the witness box as if it were the hustings.
In the aftermath of the disclosure of the relationship in Icac in 2020, Berejiklian and her backers attempted to spin the relationship. She had kept it secret as a consequence of her inexperience in relationships and because it was not “a normal relationship”. She said she was an intensely private person.
But Berejiklian was also a seasoned politician, familiar with public duty after nearly 20 years in parliament, and even longer as a ministerial staffer.
Icac said the relationship was absolutely relevant to “whether Ms Berejiklian relevantly had a conflict of interest” (which, in turn, is relevant to whether she engaged in conduct constituting or involving corrupt conduct).
Berejiklian should have been familiar with her obligations as a public figure. As treasurer, Berejiklian had been subject to a code of ministerial conduct and she had promulgated a similar code for her ministers when she became premier.
The codes make it clear that personal interests need to be disclosed to cabinet, and that in some circumstances, it may prevent a politician taking part in decision-making if there is a potential conflict of interest.
Indeed, Berejiklian had made disclosures in the past: two of her cousins were employed in the public service. She had attended functions with a person who was proposed to be appointed to a government board.
Yet she did not disclose her relationship with Maguire.
Berejiklian said her statement to Icac that “you are my family” was a “turn of phrase” and was her “way of expressing what [she] felt at the time about Maguire”. She argued she “did not mean it in the context that I regarded him as family, especially not in relation to the [ministerial code].”
Politicians are now on notice that ministerial codes of conduct are not just political window dressing.
They are worth the paper they are written on and must be followed, even by the premier.
Icac has now recommended the NSW parliament spell out the obligations on ministers and educate all politicians about their obligations.
As for reporting suspicious conduct to Icac, Berejiklian has also been found to have breached her obligations.
When the news of Maguire’s attempts to obtain secret commissions sensationally became public in July 2018 during an earlier public inquiry, Berejiklian demanded her lover step down as parliamentary secretary and from the Liberal party. He eventually resigned from parliament altogether.
But she did not think to tell even her closest confidantes that she was in a relationship with him or seek advice. Instead, she continued the secret affair.
It must be terrible to learn that your partner has been accused of engaging in dubious conduct, in this case, serious corrupt conduct.
History is peppered with women who stand by their man in the face of allegations, and evidence of wrongdoing.
But Berejiklian was in a unique position: she was premier and leader of her party, with a higher duty.
She had a statutory obligation to report the bad behaviour of colleagues to the authorities.
If Labor figures had thought to report the information swirling about Labor powerbroker and MP, Eddie Obeid, they might have stopped him much earlier in his criminal enterprises.
Berejiklian either had to choose her personal life or her public life. Instead, she thought she could compartmentalise her life – to her great cost.
There will be lots of spin in the coming days about the fact that there are no criminal charges recommended against Berejiklian and what it means.
She said on Thursday: “At all times I have worked my hardest in the public interest. Nothing in this report demonstrates otherwise.”
Icac has recommended Maguire be investigated for possible criminal charges – and he was the person who misused public resources and sought to enrich himself.
But these are also very serious findings against a premier, which other leaders should study closely.
