The ICAC has heard a tapped call in which then NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian discussed her plans for the Wagga Wagga by-election,which was triggered by the resignation of former NSW Liberal MP Daryl Maguire following his evidence at an earlier corruption inquiry.
In the call on July 30,2018,nine days after the then premier announced Mr Maguire would quit politics,Ms Berejiklian said she didn’t want to argue with Mr Maguire and she needed to “go and chill”.
“Alright I’ll go ... just throw money at Wagga,” Mr Maguire said.
“ I’ll throw money at Wagga,don’t you worry about that,lots of it,” Ms Berejiklian replied.
She added that Mr Maguire had “do what’s right from your end,otherwise you’ll kill me”.
She said Mr Maguire had already told her the “top three things” he wanted for the electorate.
“And you need ...[to] go and give them a stadium,” Mr Maguire said.
“I’ll do that too,don’t worry,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“Well the bureaucrats knocked it all out;they’re idiots,” Mr Maguire replied.
“Yes well ... but I can overrule them anyway,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Mr Maguire told the ICAC that he believed the reference to him doing what was right on his end meant that he should keep his head down during the by-election.
The ICAC is investigating the circumstances in which the state government granted or promised millions of dollars to two organisations in Mr Maguire’s electorate when he was in a secret relationship with Ms Berejiklian.
Mr Maguire has given evidence that the relationship started in 2015 and continued until shortly before the ICAC started public hearings in this inquiry in September last year.
Ms Berejiklian has denied wrongdoing and has yet to give evidence.
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.