That evidence,which shocked even those closest to her,was that Berejiklian had been in a “close personal relationship” with Maguire since at least 2015. Even in the strange world of Macquarie Street,the revelation that the state’s head girl had dated such a dud floored everyone.
But the ICAC is not always tardy when it comes to its reports. Indeed,one hastily released report was delivered within two months as McColl laboured over hers.
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Operation Jersey was a short and sharp inquiry with nowhere near the complexity of Operation Keppel,the code name for the Maguire/Berejiklian probe. Nonetheless,the ICAC was quick to conclude that the unsavoury practice of pork-barrelling,where cash is splashed deliberately for political gain,could be classed as corrupt conduct.
The timing of the Jersey inquiry was interesting. The ICAC probe into Berejiklian examined whether she encouraged corrupt conduct during her secret love affair with Maguire and whether she failed to report suspected corruption involving him. However,beyond the revelations of love,marriage and even a potential baby,the ICAC also lifted the lid on how public money is spent and how marginal electorates are won over with cash.
Operation Jersey initially started looking at the controversial council grants program called Stronger Communities,which had 95 per cent of its funding funnelled into Coalition-held seats. The program stunk. It was made worse when a parliamentary inquiry unearthed evidence that documents relating to the grants were shredded by a staffer in Berejiklian’s office.
The ICAC ultimately stopped investigating Stronger Communities in 2021,instead pivoting to look at pork-barrelling more broadly,and whether it could involve “serious breaches of public trust and conduct that could amount to corrupt conduct”.