Meanwhile,a number of senior Liberal sources who declined to be identified expressed reservations about Ms Berejiklian contesting the seat before the ICAC had delivered its findings,with one saying it was a “terrible” idea.
Gladys Berejiklian leaving her home on Tuesday amid calls from Prime Minister Scott Morrison for her to contest the federal seat of Warringah.James Alcock
Another warned:“If she wants to move on from ICAC,she shouldn’t run. If she runs she will remain a public figure. And ICAC needs to justify its approach to her,so it will either find or comment against her negatively.”
As federal ministers continued to dismiss the ICAC cloud as no obstacle to her candidacy,Mr Baird - father of former NSW premier Mike Baird - told theHerald he thought Ms Berejiklian should run and had texted her that effect.
But he also conceded there were “some downsides” as the inquiry’s findings had the potential to damage her campaign. “The concern is if the report that comes down is more adverse than people are expecting,” he said.
Mr Baird,a former deputy leader of the NSW Liberal Party and a former federal member for Cook,lives in Warringah and remains a senior figure in the party’s moderate faction. His son Mike,Ms Berejiklian’s predecessor as premier,has so far refused numerous entreaties from the Liberal Party to run for Warringah.
Mike Baird did not respond to requests for comment on Monday or Tuesday. In October,he told the ICAC inquiry he was “incredulous” to learn about Ms Berejiklian’s secret relationship with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire and that she should have disclosed it at the time.
Bruce Baird agreed it was “clear that she should have” disclosed the affair but said voters now saw it as a relationship between a popular premier and a “dud bloke”. “She captured a whole following and it’s not easily erased,” he said.
Privately,others in the party expressed concern the nature and timing of the ICAC’s findings would be damaging to Ms Berejiklian and her campaign.
One source suggested Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s remarks in Parliament that Ms Berejiklian had been “done over” had already gone down badly within the ICAC. “As a conservative you don’t attack institutions and tear down the courts,” they said.
Some sources also speculated would not serve Ms Berejiklian well in any battle against the incumbent independent MP Zali Steggall.
Members of Mr Morrison’s cabinet continued to talk up Ms Berejiklian’s potential candidacy on Tuesday. From London,Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce told theHerald the former premier would be “better[placed] than nearly all to explain to people exactly how government works”.
This was pertinent in Warringah because “the calling card of independents is to tell you everything you want to hear but never actually explain how they,independently,are going to do it”,he said.
Agriculture Minister and deputy Nationals leader David Littleproud said Ms Berejiklian should be “given some slack”. “The court of public opinion is saying Gladys has been hard done by,Gladys deserves another go,” he told journalists.
Meanwhile,Labor argued Mr Morrison was attempting to use the Berejiklian case to undermine public confidence in anti-corruption bodies. “The message he’s trying to run with the Australian people is that anti-corruption bodies are dangerous and he’s not that interested in putting one in place,” said Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher.
Ms Berejiklian could not be reached on Tuesday.
with Lucy Cormack
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights.Sign up.