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ICAC took ‘dangerous’ view of Berejiklian’s ‘attachment’ to MP, court told
The “attachment” former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian had with MP Daryl Maguire should not have been the foundation for ICAC’s corruption finding, a Supreme Court was told.
Naomi Neilson
On behalf of Ms Berejiklian, counsel Bret Walker SC on Monday (26 February) told the NSW Supreme Court it would be “dangerous, unacceptable and cannot possibly be a foundation” to make an argument the former premier was corrupted by her attachments.
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Ms Berejiklian is challenging findings made by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) that she engaged in serious corruption by participating in decisions to give government grants to two projects in Mr Maguire’s Wagga Wagga electorate.
The ICAC report, released last June, said Ms Berejiklian failed to disclose she was in a close personal relationship with Mr Maguire.
Mr Walker said other than the “pseudo evidence” in the former premier’s denial, there was “no evidence” Mr Maguire played any part in Ms Berejiklian’s decision making between 2016 and 2018, “except for the one that really makes our point”.
He added Mr Maguire was consulted with as a local member because he was “right at the top of political considerations that would obviously be taken into account” by someone in the same party.
“The notion that having an attachment is itself a standing potential for impropriety can only be regarded as a black, depressing and utterly unrealistic view of human life,” Mr Walker said.
Turning to the concern Ms Berejiklian did not disclose her relationship, Mr Walker said there was no “jurisprudence of personal relationships” that considered a spectrum of attachments minsters may have, from marriages through to “cheerful acquaintances”.
“There is no register of friendships,” Mr Walker said.
“You don’t have to say how many people you go to bed with.”
Mr Walker also took issue with Ruth McColl, the assistant commissioner of the ICAC inquiry and former Court of Appeal judge, who he said had acted outside of her jurisdiction because her term in office had ended in October 2022.
Any idea the findings were made by other parties was also rejected, with Mr Walker submitting it was “impossible to say anyone else” other than Ms McColl was “in a position to make that evaluation”.
