Berejiklian inquiry day two as it happened: Paul Doorn tells ICAC former NSW premier’s relationship with Daryl Maguire would have been a ‘red flag’

Here is a recap of the evidence heard at the ICAC today:

• Former NSW Office of Sport executive director Paul Doorn agreed it would have been a “red flag” if he had known that former NSW Liberal MP Daryl Maguire was in a relationship with then-NSW treasurer Gladys Berejiklian when he was pushing in 2016 for a multimillion-dollar grant for an organisation in his electorate of Wagga Wagga.
• Mr Doorn told the ICAC that the Office of Sport, a state government agency, didn’t think the proposal to upgrade facilities at the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga Wagga “stacked up” on its merits and the office had given it a low priority. The corruption watchdog heard Mr Maguire had written to two successive Sport Ministers, in 2012 and 2016, seeking funding for the proposal.

• In late 2016, the then NSW Sport Minister, Stuart Ayres, asked the Office of Sport to prepare an urgent submission for government funding for the Australian Clay Target Association to be submitted to the government’s expenditure review committee (ERC). The office had one day to prepare the submission. Mr Ayres, who is not accused of wrongdoing, is now Trade and Industry Minister and is expected to give evidence at the ICAC later this week.

• The ICAC has heard that Ms Berejiklian as NSW treasurer approved the final version of the funding submission, which was considered by the ERC on December 14, 2016. The ERC subsequently approved a conditional grant to the association of $5.5 million.

• Counsel assisting the ICAC, Scott Robertson, tendered some documents today relating to witnesses who are not expected to give evidence during the public hearings over the next eight days. This included an email on December 6, 2016, from a Yogi Savania in NSW Treasury to Josh Milner, also in Treasury, that said, in part: “FYI Josh. Could you try and get her hands on this from OOS [Office of Sport]. I spoke to Zach re this. The treasurer [Berejiklian] has requested this be brought forward and has indicated an inclination to support the proposal.” Mr Robertson said the email related to the proposed grant for the Australian Clay Target Association. Ms Berejiklian has yet to give evidence about whether the email accurately reflected her views at the time.

• A former strategy adviser in the NSW government, Zach Bentley, said in a private hearing at the ICAC this year that he believed Nigel Blunden, who was former Premier Mike Baird’s chief of strategy, “queried why we were giving funding to a clay target association in ... a relatively safe seat”. Mr Baird was premier at the time of the grant in 2016. Mr Bentley, who is not accused of any wrongdoing and is not expected to be called to give evidence during the public hearing, gave the evidence on April 29 this year and the transcript of his private hearing was uploaded to the corruption watchdog’s website this afternoon after the hearing adjourned.
• Mr Bentley also told the ICAC that “Daryl [Maguire] would be quite, at times, abrupt and call you to, you know, to the effect of ‘Mate, Stuart’s office is holding up’ whatever particular proposal. ‘Get the effing thing sorted. You know, I really need this for my electorate.’”
• Both Mr Baird and Mr Blunden are expected to give evidence at the ICAC tomorrow. Neither is accused of wrongdoing.

This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for today. I’ll be back with you from 10am tomorrow.

On March 11 this year the ICAC issued a notice to Mr Savania requiring him to produce certain documents and answer questions related to this email. He is not accused of wrongdoing.

The treasurer at the time of the email was Gladys Berejiklian.

Mr Robertson said Mr Savania had told the ICAC that he did not recall much about the circumstances surrounding the email because of the time that had elapsed since the events.

The ICAC is investigating the circumstances in which the NSW government agreed in 2016 to grant $5.5 million to the Wagga Wagga gun club. The then NSW Liberal MP for Wagga Wagga, Daryl Maguire, was then in a relationship with Ms Berejiklian which started in about 2015 and continued until 2018.

Ms Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing and said she always acted in the best interests of the people of NSW. She has yet to give evidence at the inquiry.

“That’s correct, yep,” Mr Toohey replied.

Mr Robertson also asked Paul Doorn, a former executive director of the Office of Sport, if he had “any recollection of where that issue was left with the Premier’s office?”

“Obviously enough there was a concern of some kind within Premier Baird’s office. Do you have a recollection as to how that was resolved or otherwise?” Mr Robertson asked today. “Do you have a recollection as to how
that ultimately played out, as it were?”

“No, I don’t. I apologise,” Mr Doorn replied.

At one point in time another bureaucrat said Mr Baird’s office had provided “significant feedback” on the proposal, Mr Robertson said during the hearing on Monday.

The ICAC hearing has adjourned to 10am tomorrow.

• The ICAC heard that the office of the then Sport Minister, Stuart Ayres, asked the Office of Sport in October 2016 to prepare an urgent funding submission for the gun club to be taken to the state government’s expenditure review committee (ERC). The agency had one day to prepare the submission. Mr Ayres, who is now the Trade and Industry Minister, is not accused of wrongdoing and is expected to give evidence later this week.
• Mr Doorn agreed that the ERC process was more direct than other funding applications and meant that money might be obtained within months rather than waiting for the next state budget in the middle of the following year. He said no explanation was ever given for the urgency, other than there being a timeslot available for the ERC to consider the proposal in December 2016.

• Documents obtained by the ICAC show that a first draft of the funding proposal put forward two potential recommendations. The first was that the government approve $500,000 in funding for a feasibility study for the works. A $6.7 million grant to carry out the works was listed as a second option. But the first option disappeared from the final version of the submission. Mr Doorn said this would not have been done without ministerial sign-off.
• The ICAC heard the then-treasurer, Gladys Berejiklian, approved the final version of the submission to be presented to the ERC on December 14, 2016. The ERC eventually approved a conditional grant of $5.5 million.

• The ICAC is investigating the conduct of Mr Maguire and Ms Berejiklian in relation to the grant. The corruption watchdog has previously heard the pair were in a secret relationship at the time, between 2015 and at least July 2018, and there is no evidence that Ms Berejiklian disclosed a potential conflict of interest as a member of the ERC. Ms Berejiklian admitted at the ICAC last year that she did not cease contact with Mr Maguire until September last year.
• The inquiry is ongoing and no findings have been made. Ms Berejiklian is expected to give evidence next week and has strenuously denied wrongdoing. She said in her resignation speech in October that she had always acted in the best interests of the people of NSW.