Former New South Wales treasurer Matt Kean is calling for reform of the state’s corruption watchdog just days before it hands down its report on former premier Gladys Berejiklian, after a process he described as a “public political lynching”.
The senior Liberal said the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) should keep its investigations secret until final findings were ready to be made public if they could not work faster.
“The unacceptable, unexplained and repeated delays delivering this report may have been forgiven if they didn’t come after a public political lynching that effectively ended Ms Berejiklian’s premiership,” Kean said.
“If Icac can’t manage an effective process, reform is needed to limit the integrity body to making only final findings public.”
Kean’s comments – echoed privately by many within the party and across the aisle – come just days before the body hands down its findings on Thursday after prolonged investigation into former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire and, later, Berejiklian.
During the course of the investigation in 2020, it was revealed that Maguire and Berejiklian had been in a secret “close personal relationship” for several years, before the scope then widened to examine if she had breached the public trust.
Berejiklian has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including when she resigned in response to Icac announcing she was being investigated at the height of the state’s pandemic restrictions in 2021.
A senior Liberal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said many within the party were particularly angry and upset at the length of the investigation, which was expected to be completed before the state election, but was delayed.
“If they are going to have it go on and on for ever, it should be done in private,” they said. “It it drags on, it becomes a trial by media.”
Another party figure suggested the saga had lost the Liberals votes in key seats in March and the Coalition may have held on to government if the highly popular Covid-era premier had still been in the top job.
“Everyone would love to have her back in some way … sending her to Canberra could be a reward,” they said.
Reform could yet be on the cards, with the premier, Chris Minns, insisting he was “prepared to sit down and talk” with anyone who had a reasonable proposal to reform the body, including what Icac itself wants.
“I want to see what the Icac report says,” he said on Monday.
“In addition to any findings they make about individuals, they’ll make recommendations to government about changes. It’s important that we’re able to look at that independently and assess it on its merits.”
He added: “Any agency that’s responsible for investigating public officials or members of the public has to deliver findings in as short space of time as possible.”
The commissioner, Ruth McColl, was expected to hand down the report last year, but was twice delayed before announcing last week that it would be given to the parliament’s presiding officers on Thursday.
The body has blamed “complex matters of law and fact” and the quantity of evidence pulled as part of the investigation for the delays that have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum, but especially from Liberals.
Earlier this month, Maguire was charged with giving false and misleading evidence in relation to a separate corruption watchdog inquiry called Operation Dasha involving Canterbury council.
A spokesperson for Icac on Monday said: “A court attendance Notice was served on Daryl Maguire on 2 June 2023 for one count of giving false and misleading evidence pursuant to section 87 of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988.”
