It was remarkable evidence to those who were watching,and there were many. The ICAC would not reveal to me how many people tuned in to its live stream,but it was enough to make the system crash on the first day of Berejiklian in the witness box.
However,while the revelations were extraordinary to those paying attention,Berejiklian’s halo has not slipped for everyone. In fact,the latest Resolve Political Monitor for theSydney Morning Heraldshows Berejiklian’s likeability has rebounded after her ICAC appearance.
Resolve director,Jim Reed,has this view on it:“Gladys Berejiklian always had high net favourability of between +30-40 points before she resigned,and that dropped to +20 points as the ICAC hearings began as voters anticipated what might happen.
“But we now find it has jumped back up to +31 points,so ICAC was a bit of an anti-climax.”
As well as her likeability (the percentage of voters holding positive views minus the percentage holding negative views),the Resolve survey found a majority of people “still like and respect Gladys Berejiklian following ICAC”. More than 40 per cent think she should not have resigned based on what emerged from the corruption inquiry.
Interestingly,the voters surveyed don’t seem to blame ICAC for Berejiklian’s demise. Despite her scathing assessment of the corruption watchdog in her final public statement as premier,in which she berated the commission for its choice of timing,47 per cent of people felt “ICAC has done important work and should not have its powers reduced”.