‘You loved her?’:Maguire tells ICAC child and marriage considered with Berejiklian

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and former MP Daryl Maguire considered having a child together and getting married during their relationship between 2015 and 2018,a corruption inquiry has heard.

Mr Maguire on Thursday commenced his evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption,revealing private details about their relationship,including that he would stay with Ms Berejiklian and had a key to her house.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and former MP Daryl Maguire.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and former MP Daryl Maguire.AAP,Janie Barrett

“You loved her?” counsel assisting the commission Scott Robertson asked.

“Yes,” Mr Maguire said.

“And so far as you can ascertain,she loved you as well?” Mr Robertson asked.

“Yes,” Mr Maguire said.

“You contemplated marriage?” Mr Robertson asked.

“Yes,” Mr Maguire said.

“There was a discussion about potentially having a child?” Mr Robertson asked.

“Yes,” Mr Maguire said.

Mr Maguire’s evidence followed an unsuccessful bid by Ms Berejiklian’s legal team for a private session to hear evidence containing intimate details “of the highest order”.

Barrister Sophie Callan,SC,argued that a closed hearing was necessary to examine evidence that would raise personal privacy concerns for the former premier,leading to humiliation and harm.

Ms Callan said she understood private details would be used in examination of her client and Mr Maguire to scrutinise the level of commitment or substance of their relationship.

Ms Callan said the evidence raised “personal privacy concerns of the highest order” for Ms Berejiklian.

“There is no public purpose served by plumbing the depths of the private life of my client about intimate details of this relationship,which she has already stated in evidence was a close personal relationship,” Ms Callan said.

One of Gladys Berejiklian’s barristers,Sophie Callan,SC,outside the ICAC on Wednesday.

One of Gladys Berejiklian’s barristers,Sophie Callan,SC,outside the ICAC on Wednesday.Janie Barrett

Ms Berejiklian has previously said the relationship was not of a sufficient status to report it.

Ms Callan appealed to ICAC Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl,SC,to hear the evidence in private as was permitted during the first public inquiry of Operation Keppel last year.

“It is a discretion you exercised several times last year when counsel assisting dealt with private personal and intimate matters on his application,” Ms Callan said.

The ICAC is examining whether Ms Berejiklian breached the public trust or encouraged corrupt conduct during her relationship with the disgraced former member for Wagga Wagga.

Daryl Maguire gives evidence at the ICAC on Thursday.

Daryl Maguire gives evidence at the ICAC on Thursday.ICAC

The commission is examining the period between 2015 and 2018,but Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire have both told the ICAC the relationship continued into 2020.

Mr Maguire is giving evidence to the commission on Thursday remotely. His lawyer Jim Harrowell also supported the application for a private hearing.

Mr Robertson said the application to hold a significant portion of a public inquiry in private should be refused. Approving the application,he said,risked creating “a public inquiry in name only”.

Mr Robertson cited the ICAC Act,which states “in very simple but emphatic terms that a public inquiry is to be held in public”.

He said the commission had done significant work in private over many months to determine what matters were in the public interest.

“The commission needs to understand ... the hallmarks of the relationship in order to assess that question of objectivity,” Mr Robertson said.

He said circumstances in this inquiry were different from last year and understanding the nature of the relationship was of central relevance in determining whether Ms Berejiklian was in a position of conflict.

Mr Robertson also pointed to a number of public statements made by the former premier in the media after her appearance at the ICAC last year,including she had once intended to marry Mr Maguire but would never speak to him again.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian last week.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian last week.Nick Moir

“She’s,of course,chosen,and I don’t say this critically at all,but she’s chosen to say at least some things in public with respect to her relationship,” he said.

After a short adjournment Assistant Commissioner McColl rejected Ms Callan’s application,saying it was not in the public interest to hear the sensitive evidence in private.

The inquiry is focused on two multimillion-dollar grants issued to the Australian Clay Target Association and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Mr Maguire’s electorate while the pair were in a relationship and Ms Berejiklian was treasurer and later premier.

Mr Maguire’s evidence began with extracts of intercepted telephone calls between Mr Maguire and his property developer friend about land that was not in his electorate.

He agreed he was talking to a state MP to gain information about this proposal for the developer,William Luong,and had an expectation he might receive a payment or commission.

Mr Maguire also agreed with former deputy premier John Barilaro’s evidence this week that he was a “pain in the arse” in advocating for projects in his electorate.

He said it was “standard” procedure for him to repeatedly lobby ministers.

“The more doors you knock on,the more ledgers you write,the better your chances of securing something,” he said.

Ms Berejiklian is expected to give evidence to the ICAC on Friday and has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

The inquiry prompted her immediate resignation as the state’s 45th premier,as well as her exit from State Parliament altogether.

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Lucy Cormack is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age,based in Dubai.

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