Berejiklian inquiry day nine as it happened: Former NSW premier told Daryl Maguire she would ‘throw money at Wagga’ after he quit politics

• Mr Maguire said the secret relationship between the pair started in 2015 and continued even after he quit politics in 2018 following his evidence at an earlier ICAC inquiry. He agreed with counsel assisting the ICAC, Scott Robertson, that (at least as far as he was concerned) the pair remained in a relationship until shortly before the last public hearing in this inquiry, in September last year.
• Mr Maguire said he had a key to Ms Berejiklian’s house and stayed with her in Sydney from time to time. They loved each other and had discussed marriage and children, he agreed.
• Ms Berejiklian has previously said the relationship continued until at least July 2018, when she asked Mr Maguire to quit politics, and she remained in contact with him until September 13 last year. “After having known him for 15 years, I felt that I should check on his welfare and, therefore, for that reason, I maintained that association for that time,” she told the ICAC in October last year.
• Mr Maguire agreed with Ms Berejiklian’s barrister, Sophie Callan, SC, that the pair did not share a diary or finances, did not celebrate anniversaries and had not met each other’s families as a couple. Asked whether he had used his relationship with Ms Berejiklian to gain access to her to lobby for projects, he said: “We tended to keep our private discussions and our business discussions fairly separate”. However, he added that he would have “given her a hard time” on some things, and “wouldn’t have cut her any slack”.
• The ICAC played parts of tapped phone calls between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire. In an October 2017 call, Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian: “Wagga is the centre of the universe, I’ve always said it. Keep listening to me and it’ll be like the blazing star of the southern universe, I tell ya. That’s why we need a stadium. That’s why we need a conservatorium. That’s why we need the things that Sydney’s got.”
• In a May 2018 call, Ms Berejiklian told Mr Maguire “we ticked off your conservatorium the other day, so that’s a done deal now”. This was a reference for $10 million in funding for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Wagga Wagga to move from Charles Sturt University to a new government-owned site in his electorate.
• After he quit politics in 2018, Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian in a July 30 call to “throw money at Wagga”. “I’ll throw money at Wagga, lots of it, don’t you worry about that,” Ms Berejiklian replied. She said Mr Maguire had already told her the “top three things” he wanted for the electorate. Mr Maguire suggested one project was being blocked by bureaucrats and Ms Berejiklian said: “I can overrule them”.

• In an August 2018 call with the Liberal Party’s candidate for Wagga Wagga, Julia Ham, Mr Maguire said: “You know I have to leave something to hand on ... to get a candidate elected, don’t I?” Ms Ham is not accused of wrongdoing. She did not win the seat.

• Mr Maguire admitted that he attempted in 2017 to get confidential information from state MPs about land in Cawdor in the Wollondilly Shire to assist his property broker friend William Luong. There is no suggestion Ms Berejiklian was involved. Mr Maguire told the ICAC he had “no agreement” that he would receive a commission from Mr Luong but it was a possibility.
• He also agreed that he lobbied Ms Berejiklian and others about proposals for the state government to spend some $35 million on projects for the Australian Clay Target Association, a gun club in his electorate, and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. Both are private organisations. The gun club ultimately received $5.5 million to upgrade its facilities while the conservatorium received $10 million to relocate premises with a further $20 million promised (but not yet delivered) for a new recital hall.
• “Typical of our bulls--t government,” Mr Maguire emailed Ms Berejiklian in March 2017, when the gun club plan was being scrutinised by bureaucrats and external consultants to ascertain its benefit to cost ratio. He told the ICAC this was slowing the proposal down. Asked if he was inviting Ms Berejiklian to intervene, Mr Maguire said he was “venting” but “you could read that as an invitation”.
• Mr Maguire admitted that G8way International, a company through which he pursued a range of commercial opportunities, assisted the Australian Clay Target Association to buy furniture. But he said he had “nothing to do with it” and it was an associate of his who was involved in helping the association. Asked if his associate received a commission, Mr Maguire said: “No one works for nothing, Mr Robertson.” “Exactly,” counsel assisting the ICAC, Scott Robertson, replied.
• The ICAC heard that Mr Maguire’s property broker friend Mr Luong was invited to a networking dinner at Parliament House in 2017 where the conservatorium project could have been discussed. But Mr Maguire said he did not attend.
• Earlier on Thursday, the commissioner presiding over the inquiry, Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl, SC, rejected an application by Ms Berejiklian’s barrister for parts of Mr Maguire’s evidence about the nature and extent of his relationship with Ms Berejiklian to be heard in private.

This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for today. I will be with you again before 10am tomorrow, when former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is slated to start giving evidence.

Ms Berejiklian told the ICAC in October last year that she maintained contact with Mr Maguire until September 13, 2020.

Mr Maguire, the former member for Wagga Wagga, has told the ICAC he had a key to Ms Berejiklian’s house and stayed with her from time to time in Sydney. He agreed with Ms Callan that he had his own accommodation in Sydney and that “occasionally” he was in town and didn’t tell her.

“You did not share a diary with Ms Berejiklian, did you?” Ms Callan asked.

“No,” Mr Maguire replied.

“You’ve never met any member of Ms Berejiklian’s family?” Ms Callan asked.

“No, not officially. I did know them [from official functions],” he replied.

“She was not introduced to your family, for instance, as Daryl’s girlfriend?“Ms Callan asked.

“No,” Mr Maguire replied.

They did not have an anniversary date they celebrated, he agreed.

Ms Callan asked Mr Maguire if he was using the close personal relationship he had with the former NSW premier in order to access her to lobby for projects in which he had an interest.

Mr Maguire replied that “we tended to keep our private discussions and our business discussions fairly separate” but he would have “given her a hard time” on some things, and “wouldn’t have cut her any slack”.

On July 21, 2018, Ms Berejiklian said Mr Maguire would quit politics altogether. Mr Maguire agreed that he urged Ms Berejiklian to announce in the Wagga Wagga by-election, triggered by his resignation, that the Riverina Conservatorium of Music would receive $20 million for a new recital hall.

That announcement was subsequently made by the state government, although the money has not been delivered to date.

Mr Maguire told the ICAC that this was a project that benefited his electorate but “if there was a legacy [for me] attached to that ... so be it”.

“Correct. That’s why we need a stadium. That’s why we need a conservatorium. That’s why we need the things that Sydney’s got.”

He said in relation to other MPs in regional electorates: “F--k them, Wagga’s where it’s going to happen.

“Those other dumbarses just sit there and look after themselves instead of looking after their electorate. That’s why they’re f--ked.”

Ms Berejiklian has yet to give evidence at the inquiry. She has denied wrongdoing.

He said governments were “very funny about all sorts of things” but ultimately the conservatorium had no money apart from fees and money from the Department of Education.

He was trying to help them find a way to access a new revenue stream.

The conservatorium is not accused of any wrongdoing.

“I sort of ... understand why from a government perspective they can’t be seen to be providing a commercial venture for ... a nix,” the businessman said.

“Correct,” Mr Maguire replied.

“My solution to that ... was to build the entertainment space bigger ... and then at a later date, I’m sure you can build it too big then put in some commercial stuff and sub-let it.”