ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Former New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has lost her appeal against being found corrupt by the state’s corruption watchdog.
Last year, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) found that Gladys Berejiklian had engaged in corrupt conduct after helping her secret boyfriend, Wagga MP Darryl Maguire, secure funding for various projects in his electorate.
The ICAC found the manner in which the funds were allocated was not above board and were indicative of a level of corruption that is “heavily frowned upon” but “far from criminal”.
Speaking to The Advocate, former ICAC investigator P.J. Hasham explained the original verdict and the most recent appeal.
“On the scale of corruption, this is pretty acceptable to the lay person,” said Hasham.
“I mean, sure, we have some misappropriated funds but they’ve gone to things like a conservatorium and gun club. It’s not like it’s gone into the back pocket of Darryl Maguire and Gladys Berejiklian. Their only sin is that they care too much about people living out on the Barassi Line in southwest NSW,”
“You know, we’re far from a Russ Hinze level. Far from Joh and his special branch. By the book, it is corruption but it’s largely victimless. The only vicitims here are schoolkids in Wagga that have to sit through the local amateur theatre group butchering Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats or having to listen to a spotty 16-year-old try to play Peter Roberts’ Flowerdale solo on a hired soprano cornet,”
“The private sector knows this and they don’t care, obviously.”
Today, the Riverina Conservatorium of Music and the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga can trace their origin and existence back to the relationship between Mr Maguire and Ms Berejiklian. While the people of Wagga say they didn’t really want or need any of these things, they are grateful they have them.
More to come.
