Icac inquiry live: Gladys Berejiklian faces questions over relationship with Daryl Maguire | Australia news

The transport minister, Andrew Constance, was speaking to the media a little earlier too. We only caught the end of that press conference.

But he defended Gladys Berejiklian. Constance defended the premier’s performance and said she deserved “enormous regard and respect”.

It’s not for me to comment on personal relationships. I mean, for goodness sake, let’s just call a spade a spade. This is a human being who has worked her socks off for this state, and deserves enormous regard and respect, and will continue to do so, and that’s the important thing for the people of New South Wales.

The NSW opposition leader, Jodi McKay, spoke in public a little earlier. She said the premier must resign.

McKay made fairly strong comments. She called the premier a “fraud” and said she lacked integrity and honesty.

Gladys Berejiklian has no choice but to resign. She must resign, the citizens of New South Wales believe she must resign, and I know that all of you believe she must resign, so she cannot possibly stay as the premier of this state, given the extraordinary evidence that has been given to the Independent Commission Against Corruption today. So I am happy to take a couple of quick questions.

You know, we should not be in a situation where we have a premier who is a fraud. This is about integrity. I have been in that witness box. I have sat in Icac and had to give evidence there and it comes down to the type of person you are and the evidence you give. And her evidence is evasive and I do not believe she was telling the truth today – that is my personal opinion – I do not believe she was telling the truth.

McKay was asked whether she was accusing Berejiklian of improper use of public office or dishonesty.

I’m accusing her of both. I think her political judgment has been poor. Her behaviour has been reckless. She’s shown very poor judgment. But I think this goes to the heart of the type of leader that you want in New South Wales. There is someone who has led our state, and she has known every time she’s stood up here and has defended a minister and their bad behaviour, she has known her own dirty little secrets. She has known the conversations that she has been privy to. She has known the contact who she is still having with a disgraced MP. So she is not able to make the proper calls in regard to the behaviour or the standards within her government.

Hi everyone. It’s Christopher Knaus here, back live blogging this dramatic day in NSW politics.

The premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has called a press conference for 4.30pm, with the health minister, Brad Hazzard, and the treasurer, Dominic Perrottet.

The press conference will be held at NSW parliament.

We’ll bring that to you as soon as we can. Until then, we’ll have all the latest development, so stick around.

We’re going to pause this blog now, but I’ll be back with any major developments as they happen.

OK, so, shall we just take a minute to recap on what just happened?

• In an appearance before the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Monday, the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, revealed she had been in a “close personal relationship” with the disgraced former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire since around the time of the 2015 state election.
• Maguire resigned in 2018 after a separate Icac inquiry revealed he had attempted to broker property deals and seek payments on behalf of a Chinese developer, but Berejiklian said today that she had only cut off contact with him last month.
• Through a series of intercepted phone calls between Berejiklian and Maguire, we learned Berejiklian knew that Maguire stood to make hundreds of thousands of dollars on a Badgerys Creek land deal that he lobbied her office to intervene in.
• We also heard Berejiklian had deleted an email from the racing heir Louise Waterhouse, on whose behalf Maguire was working while still an MP, after he handed over her direct email address. She admitted the email was “irregular”.
• When Maguire told Berejiklian that he stood to make a substantial amount of money on the potential land deal, the premier responded “I don’t need to know about that bit”. It was one of two occasions on which we heard the premier tell Maguire she did not need to know certain information about his business dealings.
• But the premier denied that she was trying to limit her exposure, telling the inquiry: “I deny the proposition that I turned a blind eye, which is, I think, what you’re saying.”
• On one occasion, Berejiklian told Maguire: “You will always be my numero uno.” The two discussed plans for making their relationship public if Maguire left office at the 2019 election, but the Wagga Wagga MP was concerned about securing ongoing employment.

The NSW opposition leader, Jodi McKay, has, perhaps predictably, called on Gladys Berejiklian to resign.

We’re immediately played another two intercepts.

In the first, from February 2018, Maguire and Berejiklian are discussing his potential retirement from politics.

“I’m just trying to let you think about what you need to do and all of that stuff, that’s all,” she says.

“I’m doing nothing until the end of the year … seeing how this all goes.”

He then says: “Country Garden has fucking fallen through”, a reference to a Chinese development company. Berejiklian says she doesn’t know what that means.

Robertson asks: “Is it fair to say as at February 2018, as you understood it, Mr Maguire was considering retiring from parliament but wanted to make sure he had something to do after parliament?”

She agrees and says: “I hope I made it clear that was a matter for him and I would deal with it accordingly.”

Robertson: “He was seeking to do some deals and make some profit to put himself in a financial position so he was not going to nothing?”

Berejiklian: “My recollection was he was seeking opportunities beyond politics.”

We then hear another phone call between her and Maguire, this time from 3 May 2018.

Maguire: “Jimmy’s made me an offer.”

Berejiklian: “You stay away please.”

She says she has “no recollection what that means”.

And we’re back. Robertson apologises for the delay, which is nice.

I haven’t fallen asleep at the wheel – we’re still waiting for the hearing to resume from a private session. The hearing went dark about half an hour ago to listen to another intercepted phone conversation between the premier and Maguire.

In the meantime, a quick primer on how we ended up here today.

Today marks the beginning of the third week of the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s public hearings into the conduct of the former MP for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire.

The inquiry is looking at whether the former MP used his public office to improperly gain a benefit for himself or for G8way International, a company he “effectively controlled”.

It has previously heard Maguire sought payments to help broker deals for Chinese property developers, and helped “grease the wheels” of a deal to sell the racing heir Louise Waterhouse’s land near the proposed western Sydney airport in 2017 and 2018.

We all thought Gladys Berejiklian had been called as a witness after the inquiry heard Maguire had given her direct email address to Waterhouse. But, in a stunning revelation this morning, Berejiklian admitted she had been in a close personal relationship with the MP dating back to 2015. She only ceased contact with him last month. We’ve also learned that Berejiklian previously appeared in a private hearing in August.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has been asked about what’s unfolded at Icac today. He calls it a “surprise”.

It is a matter before that commission and a matter for the New South Wales government. I have worked well with the NSW premier over many years, but that is a matter for her and an ongoing inquiry, and I don’t intend to make commentary on those matters, as you would expect.

These are very new revelations that obviously came as some news to me … but the work that the premier has done in NSW managing the Covid-19 crisis has been exemplary.

We’re now listening to hold music as the commission listens to an intercepted phone call in private. It’s the second time this has happened during today’s hearings. We’re told it’s because the call may unnecessarily reveal private information about the premier.

We’re played another intercepted phone call in which Berejiklian tells Maguire she didn’t need to know about the former MP’s activities with property developers.

In the tape, Maguire tells Berejiklian he “introduced my little friend” and adds: “You know my little friend?”

“Not really. I don’t need to know,” Berejiklian replies.

Maguire refers to his friend “with the polished head”, then says, “you don’t need to know what for”.

We’re back from lunch.

Robertson is asking the premier whether she had any more conversations with Maguire after receiving two emails from Louise Waterhouse in November 2016.

She says she doesn’t recall any. Then we listen to another intercepted phone call in which Maguire talks about “problems, big problems” with Waterhouse’s land.

Robertson asks if Berejiklian remembers the conversation. She answers:

Not specifically, not to my recollection.”