Last Friday was a very bad day for former New South Wales Premier Gladys Berijiklian as the long-awaited report from ICAC into Operation Keppel was finally tabled and released to the public and it was an absolute beauty, at least from a political commentator's perspective. Unfortunately, the report did not make good reading for Berijiklian.
Originally the purpose of Operation Keppel was to investigate the former member for Wagga Wagga Darryl Maguire concerning his conduct regarding property deals due to an intercepted phone call from a previous operation. It then expanded concerning a grant that was given to the Australian Clay Target Association in 2016 and 2 grants that were given to the Riverina Conservatorium of Music which were both based in Maguire's electorate of Wagga Wagga.
During the initial public hearings, then NSW Premier Berejiklian was invited to give evidence and made the disclosure that she and Maguire had been in a relationship between 2014 and 2018. Given the grants covered that period in question, this became a real problem for Berejiklian and when it emerged that she was under investigation for her potential role in these grants, she took what was the honourable course of action and resigned as Premier of New South Wales.
While Maguire was gone and Berejiklian had moved onto a cushy job at Optus, ICAC continued on their work and investigated further into what had happened and unfortunately, this led to the ultimate leaking of one of the cringiest text messages of all time
Maguire: Just remember, even though you're the Premier, I'm the boss Berejiklian: Yes, I know
Now this could be interpreted in ANY number of ways. ICAC went with the "Berejiklian knew about it but turned a blind eye to it" interpretation and let's be frank about it, I'm bloody glad they did because another interpretation which honestly could be worse is as follows:
Two lovers flirting over the phone and that was some sort of foreplay
Now if that doesn't give you mental scarring, you truly have a mind of metal because the thought of that almost made me alarmingly sick.
Anyway, all horror put aside, last Friday, ICAC came out with their final report and my word it was a beauty.
They found that Darryl Maguire engaged in serious corrupt conduct between 2012 and 2018 by:
Improper use of office and resources to benefit G8wayInternational Pty Ltd (he was a director)
Failure to disclose interest and position in G8wayInternational Pty Ltd
Misusing his role as a member of Parliament in connection with immigration scheme
Misusing his role as a member of Parliament and chair of NSW Parliament Asia Pacific Friendship Group to advance his own financial interests and those of his associates
Misusing role in relation to the sale and/or development of land in NSW
With regards to Gladys Berejiklian, they found she engaged in serious corrupt conduct by:
Exercising official functions in relation to funding promised without disclosing the relationship with Maguire
Partially exercising functions in connection with funding promised by exercising official functions influenced by the existence of a relationship with Maguire and the desire on her part to maintain or advance that relationship
Refusing to notify Commission of her suspicion that Maguire had engaged in activities which concerned or might have concerned, corrupt conduct.
Both Maguire and Berejiklian are entitled to a chance to defend themselves against these findings and there are no issues with that.
Regarding Maguire, there appears to be no doubt in ICAC's mind that he engaged in serious corrupt conduct. The evidence that they gathered shows them that he misused his position as a politician to try to benefit his own financial interests and that of his associates. There is a clear pattern of this over a number of different situations and any politician who does this absolutely deserves to get whacked. Not only does Maguire deserve to get whacked by ICAC, I honestly think he deserves to face criminal charges for what he's done. In the case of Maguire, ICAC has nailed him hard and what looks to be deservingly so.
The case of Berejiklian however is a little more complicated and reading through a summary of the findings, I am not totally convinced that she engaged in serious corrupt conduct.
Let's be clear here though, there are a number of failings on Berejiklian's part
Failure to disclose the relationship with Maguire
Ruling on grants that involved Maguire
Failure to report suspicion that Maguire had engaged in activities that may have concerned corrupt conduct
These failings ultimately are a Breach of Trust, of which ICAC has no doubt. We expect high standards of those in office and that includes reporting suspicions of corruption, not to mention disclosing ANY possible conflicts of interest. We expect our politicians to behave with integrity and uphold the highest standards which Berejiklian has failed to do. Politicians make mistakes and Berejiklian made many which in no way is an out for what occurred.
The problem I ultimately have though, reading through a summary of the findings; Does a Breach of Public Trust constitute serious corrupt conduct?
There are other questions too:
Did Berejiklian benefit in any way from these decisions outside of maintaining a relationship with Maguire?
Did Maguire make any implied comments which suggest that if she didn't make the decisions he wanted, then their relationship would be over?
What makes things even more strange is that Berejiklian "engaged in serious corrupt conduct" according to ICAC and yet, she won't be prosecuted because it falls into what they call "grey area corruption."
A lot of people have pulled the whole "all she's guilty of is choosing a sh*tty partner" and yes, in some respects, I do agree with that sentiment. That sh*tty partner brought her reign as NSW Premier to a shocking end and dragged her through the mire of ICAC and got her accused of engaging in "serious corrupt conduct."
I get that sentiment, I really do but for goodness sake, let's be realistic here. Yes, she chose to date Darryl Maguire but she should not be criticised because of her dating choices. That just demeans women in politics and basically says "Oh her choice of partner was terrible and if she chose a better man, she wouldn't have been in that position."
Put aside that sentiment for a moment because it's ridiculous. Gladys Berejiklian did the wrong thing by failing to inform of corruption suspicions and conflicts of interest.
Does this make her corrupt? Only if she benefited from it outside of maintaining a relationship with Maguire.
The reality is that at the end of the day, Berejiklian made some terrible judgement calls and she paid the price by being forced to resign as Premier of New South Wales.
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