Gladys Berejiklian's secret lover exposed: NSW Premier admits to 'very close personal relationship' with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire as she fronts corruption hearing where stunning phone taps of their intimate conversations are aired
Gladys Berejiklian has admitted she had a private relationship with disgraced former colleague Daryl Maguire while he was in office.
The NSW premier made the stunning admission while giving evidence at the ICAC inquiry into corruption allegations against Mr Maguire on Monday.
Ms Berejiklian said she had a 'personal attachment' to Mr Maguire after working together for more than 15 years. She said their relationship began in 2015.
They last spoke on September 13 - less than a month ago - and Ms Berejiklian ceased communication only after agreeing to attend the ICAC inquiry.
'I would like to state at the outset Mr Maguire was a colleague of 15 years, he was someone that I trusted,' she said.
'That developed into a close personal relationship.'
Mr Maguire - who was the Liberal member for Wagga Wagga - was forced to quit the Berejiklian government in 2018 after a separate ICAC inquiry heard evidence he sought payments to help broker deals for property developers.
An intercepted phone call between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire was played to the commission, revealing their close relationship.
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Gladys Berejiklian has admitted she shared a private relationship with disgraced former colleague Daryl Maguire while he was in office
The NSW premier made the stunning admission while giving evidence at the commission on Monday as part of the four-week inquiry (pictured together in Wagga Wagga in 2017)
Ms Berejiklian admitted that over the course of their relationship, Mr Maguire frequently spoke of his finances and was 'obsessed' by them
The first private conversation was about Mr Maguire's first trip to China, he was concerned about looming job losses in the Riverina, despite the company, United World Enterprises, was based outside his electorate.
Ms Berejiklian can be heard saying her former chief of staff Sarah Cruickshank had concerns about his travel.
'Alright babe, what do you think?' Mr Maguire said in the call.
'I just got home, did Sarah ring you from my office?' Ms Berejiklian replied.
'No why?' he asked.
'She sent me a text, when she has to ring a member of parliament she lets me know.'
'They seem to think it's in your electorate. I didn't say anything, it's none of my business, I'm just letting you know.'
Mr Maguire went on to use 'offensive language' to explain why he was going to China.
'I will ... these bureaucrats don't care... they're shaking hands, they are sucking people's d***s and they are turning up to everything and they do nothing.'
In another intercepted phone call Ms Berejiklian told Mr Maguire: 'You will always be my numero uno'.
When asked what she meant by that statement, Ms Berejiklian said she probably meant, 'in my personal life I placed importance on how I felt about him'.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has admitted she shared a private relationship with disgraced former colleague Daryl Maguire while he was in office
In another call between the pair, they discuss a deal involving William Luong, a property broker who was working with Mr Maguire.
The duo were helping racing heir Louise Raedler Waterhouse in securing the $330 million sale of land near Western Sydney Airport.
The inquiry had heard Mr Maguire looked to make about $1million if the Waterhouse land was sold to a Chinese buyer called Country Garden.
'William tells me, we've done our deal', Mr Maguire said on the call.
'I don't need to know about that bit,' the Premier replied.
She was then grilled over whether she was indicating that he shouldn't give her details of deals 'with a view to avoiding you being fixed with information that you might then have to act upon'.
She claimed she believed he was making full disclosures where needed. She said if she felt as though there was any wrongdoing by one, she would report them.
After being summonsed last week Ms Berejiklian said she would be 'pleased to be assisting with those inquiries'
'I don't care who it is. I don't care what the circumstances are, the public comes first, as far as I'm concerned. If I felt that was doing the wrong thing, I would have made damn sure that I reported it,' Ms Berejiklian said.
Text messages between Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire:
One message from 2014, before Ms Berejiklian was premier, appears to reveal Maguire telling Mr Berejiklian about how a motel had sold for $5.8 million, and how he was entitled to $5,000.
'Hawkiss good news. One of my contacts sold a motel for 5.8 million I had put her in contact so I should make 5k,' he wrote.
Hawkiss, or hokis, is an Armenian term of affection meaning 'my soul' or 'my beloved'.
Ms Berejiklian allegedly replied, saying: 'Congrats!!! Great news!!! Woohoo'.
Ms Berejiklian told the inquiry their relationship was kept private as she had always tried to separate her personal life away from her public role.
She said she was never concerned Mr Maguire might be attempting to use the influence of her office to promote his own business activities.
She admitted that over the course of their relationship, Mr Maguire frequently spoke of his finances and was 'obsessed' by them.
But she denied distancing herself from specific details on Mr Maguire's affairs in an attempt at self-preservation.
'I would never, ever, ever turn a blind eye from any responsibility that I had to disclose any wrongdoing that I saw, or any activity that I thought was not in keeping with what a member of parliament should be doing,' Ms Berejiklian told the inquiry.
'I would suggest that I was either not interested or I thought what he was raising with me was fanciful. He was a big talker.
'A lot of the time, I would have ignored a lot of what he said as fanciful and information that I didn't care to be involved in or interested in.'
The premier also said she didn't take a personal interest in Mr Maguire's finances, despite their relationship, as she was an 'independent woman' with her own finances.
Emails and text messages were tendered to the commission, revealing conversations the pair previously had about his finances.
One message from 2014, before Ms Berejiklian was premier, appears to reveal Maguire telling Mr Berejiklian about how a motel had sold for $5.8 million, and how he was entitled to $5,000.
Mr Maguire was forced to quit the Berejiklian government in 2018 after a separate ICAC inquiry heard evidence he sought payments to help broker deals for property developers
One message from 2014, before Ms Berejiklian was premier, appears to reveal Maguire telling Mr Berejiklian about how a motel had sold for $5.8 million, and how he was entitled to $5,000 (Pictured: A mock up of the allegedly text messages)
'Hawkiss good news. One of my contacts sold a motel for 5.8 million I had put her in contact so I should make 5k,' he wrote.
Hawkiss, or hokis, is an Armenian term of affection meaning 'my soul' or 'my beloved'.
Ms Berejiklian allegedly replied, saying: 'Congrats!!! Great news!!! Woohoo'.
After being summonsed last week Ms Berejiklian said she would be 'pleased to be assisting with those inquiries'.
The current inquiry has heard evidence Mr Maguire sought payments to help broker deals for Chinese property developers.
It's investigating whether Mr Maguire breached the public trust by using his public office and parliamentary resources to improperly gain a benefit for himself or for G8way International - a company he 'effectively controlled'.
The premier was dragged into the saga last week when the ICAC heard Mr Maguire gave a western Sydney landowner - Louise Waterhouse - Ms Berejiklian's email address to help her lobby for rezoning changes that would benefit her parcel of land.
ICAC heard Mr Maguire passed on the email address and suggested the premier would be able to provide a 'tickle from up top'.
'She won't survive this': How Australia reacted to Gladys' secret relationship
Radio host Ray Hadley: 'I don't think, for a whole range of reasons, that Gladys Berejkilian can survive this.'
'Given this relationship predated his divorce and separation, and given that she's now admitted had he retired from politics in 2017 she would have made public the relationship.
Greens MP David Shoebridge: 'It's hard to see how the Premier can survive a day in Parliament this week given the bombshells being dropped in ICAC about her relationship with the... Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.'
Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell: 'When they call a premier you know they've got something. I actually think I that there's a good chance Gladys Berejiklian will have to resign over this.'
Ms Berejiklian could become the third Liberal premier in New South Wales to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created
Little more than two decades later, in 2014, Barry O'Farrell resigned over an undeclared $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage, bottled in the year of his birth - 1959
Ms Waterhouse told the inquiry Ms Berejiklian never responded to her email and no zoning changes were made to her property.
Ms Berejiklian could become the third Liberal premier in New South Wales to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created.
Nick Greiner became its first victim in 1992 - just four years after he established the Independent Commission Against Corruption in a bid to uncover Labor scandals during Neville Wran's decade in power.
While the Supreme Court later cleared him of scandalously offering a government job to former education minister Terry Meterell, the damage was done and the late John Fahey replaced him as premier.
Little more than two decades later, in 2014, Barry O'Farrell resigned over an undeclared $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage, bottled in the year of his birth - 1959.
He had received the gift in March 2011 in the week he won a landslide election victory that ended 16 years of Labor rule, following a series of scandals in Kristina Keneally's government.