Morrison has said “it would be a bit of a numpty of a decision” to replace her. If anything she is being given a softer run. To maintain that different, tougher standards are applied to women leaders may often be true, but it doesn’t fit this instance. After all, she removed him from the Liberal Party and pushed for his resignation from parliament in 2018. But persisting with the relationship after he was found out is surely harder, if not impossible, to justify, regardless of her explanation he was in a “very dark place”. The line that everyone makes mistakes in their private life – “people have all made personal decisions I’m sure they regret, that’s human”, Morrison says – won’t wash.īerejiklian can be forgiven for initially being taken in by Maguire. People would not be looking for reasons to excuse him. Imagine the reaction if Morrison had given such evidence, or been embarrassed by such tapes. She had a deaf ear to clues she should have picked up. It sounded, however, more like she did not want him to give her information she preferred not to receive. She explains her apparent dismissiveness of what Maguire was saying as boredom with his big-noting. The activities referred to might not have been illegal – Berejiklian makes the point MPs are allowed to engage in business – but for any premier they would be very uncomfortable.īerejiklian certainly seemed uncomfortable and on two occasions said “I don’t need to know”. Maguire told her of his lobbying for developers. Most compromising, however, is the material captured by phone taps of Maguire’s conversations with Berejiklian. Certainly she should immediately have broken off the connection with Maguire, rather than continue it until this year, when he was back in ICAC’s sights. When Maguire fell foul of ICAC in 2018, Berejiklian should have belatedly admitted to the relationship, informing senior colleagues, so there would be no time bombs. But, given the position of one of them, in this case it should have been put on the record – at least to cabinet colleagues. The premier could affect the fortunes of the MP the MP could use the relationship, even if undeclared, to further his own interests by suggesting he could deliver access.Īs Berejiklian has said, there is nothing wrong per se with two members of parliament having a personal relationship. It’s another matter when those involved are a senior minister, who then became premier, and one of her party’s MPs. If her relationship had been with the plumber down the street who was unconnected with government, that would be absolutely correct. Her supporters say her private life was no one else’s business. When in 2015 she changed the nature of her relationship with the then member for Wagga Wagga from friendship to a “close personal” one, she failed to disclose this to colleagues.īrand Gladys: how ICAC revelations hurt Berejiklian's 'school captain' image
#Gladys berejiklian series#
She made a series of decisions that were inappropriate. She didn’t just make a bad judgment about a sub-optimal boyfriend which can be written off as having “stuffed up” her personal life. As Scott Morrison has said repeatedly, NSW has set the “gold standard” during the coronavirus crisis.īut Berejiklian’s personal and political reputation should not obscure the seriousness of her actions, or rather her inactions, in relation to Maguire. Her political performance this year is certainly one reason the prime minister is standing with her.
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