Forget the notion of ‘poor Gladys’. Anti-corruption body, ICAC, has done its job in finding NSW’s former premier engaged in serious corrupt conduct, writes former NSW Minister Michael Yabsley.
‘Our Gladys,’ as adoring parts of the NSW electorate saw her, now hovers in the invidious grey zone between hero and villain. This is familiar territory for Liberal Premiers in NSW: Nick Greiner was there over Terry Metherell, Barry O’Farrell over a bottle of wine.
Now Gladys Berejiklian is there for what the ICAC terms “grave misconduct” and “breach of public trust” and more generally, a failure to disclose. For Gladys, this is unambiguously serious stuff.
ICAC has today told us partly what we already know: that Daryl McGuire, the former premier’s former boyfriend, is up to his eyeballs in corrupt conduct and is in the process of having the book thrown at him. Big time.
Shades of grey
Gladys Berejiklian on the other hand is now a tainted one-time hero. For Gladys, this is something of a Ben Roberts-Smith moment, where a bright light has been shone on wrong doing but criminality remains a shade of largely unexplored grey. ICAC is not recommending criminal charges agianst her.
The ICAC Report is an uncomfortable reminder that arguably much corrupt behaviour does not fall within the scope of criminal behaviour. This is anathema to many in the community at large.
So why, in the wake of the ICAC inquiry into the life and times of Daryl Maguire, is it still a case of ‘poor Gladys’.
Yes, we have all had a Daryl in our lives … but
From the political class, including the Macquarie Street press gallery through to the punters in outer Western Suburbs electorates, we were told that this self-confessed “goody two shoes” – and the popularly elected head girl from central casting – could do no wrong.
‘Leave our Gladys alone’ was the message that echoed around the State.
Other mere mortals would’ve been ripped apart limb by limb before being shown the door within hours of her relationship with dopey Daryl being revealed. That was in October 2020. She lasted another year before resigning.
Teflon performance
Nick Greiner, Barry O’Farrell, Michael Gallacher, Margaret Cunneen QC and a host of other luminaries, who have been called to account by the ICAC, were dress-circle spectators to Gladys’s teflon performance.
Part of the explanation for this super-human but disarming performance is the discernible love affair between the public and the modest, believable, hard-working, no-nonsense daughter of Armenian migrants, for whom English was her second language.
“Having a long surname and being a woman” might matter in politics, but it is not on the ICAC’s radar. Let’s hope this never changes.
Gladys smashed the glass ceiling without having to remind us ad nauseam how difficult it is to do it. But to say Gladys has paid the ultimate career and reputation price for ‘kissing a frog’, or being ‘unlucky in love’ is disingenuous. It always was.
The ‘unlucky in love’ line is one of those smoke screens that comes out when the accused is on the back foot. Smoke screens have been used throughout history to defend the indefensible through to the highly suspect.
But the romance with the electorate was not as benign and organic as this picture paints. Nor was the love affair with Maguire, as ICAC has found.
A different ball game
The line that ‘everyone has had a Daryl in their lives,’ bowled over the last line of resistance to Gladys’ explanation about how all this went so wrong. Yes, the electorate nodded furiously ‘we all have had a Daryl,’ – leave our Gladys alone!
Yes, we have all had a Daryl in our lives. That’s just part of the occasionally lamentable tapestry of life. But when ‘having a Daryl’ intersects with the job of running the state, it’s a different ball game.
Having a secret boyfriend who turned out to be a crooked colleague was not a case of naivete. Failure to disclose, not about having a boyfriend, but being privy to at least part of what was going on in McGuire’s nefarious world, was always on the wrong side of the integrity line. By a country mile.
It’s not that Gladys “stuffed up in her personal life,” as she was keen to stress. The truth, as far as the ICAC is concerned, is that Gladys stuffed up in her professional life as Premier of NSW.
It’s worth remembering that McGuire’s track record is old news, going back to 2018 when the ICAC first found to be corrupt as he masterminded an audacious and utterly corrupt series of deals, reminiscent of Rex Jackson and Eddie Obeid days.
Apart from the shocking findings of corrupt conduct against Gladys, the second-tier, parenthetic focus has been on the excruciating length of time taken for the ICAC to report on Berejiklian.
Excruciatingly long, but unjustified?
Let’s not pretend dragging the chain is unique to the ICAC. Nor should we claim that lengthy lead times in investigative reports being handed down is without justification, without knowing what is going on behind the scenes.
From complicated murder and white-collar criminal investigations through to aviation and other transport tragedies, the processes aimed at uncovering the truth are notorious for moving at snails’ pace. Is that justified? Maybe, but perhaps not. Let the authorities involved be answerable for how long they take – including the ICAC.
Two footnotes. Firstly, this is a bad day for Gladys Berejiklian. A very bad day. Her life is irreversibly changed, but certainly not destroyed. She is a bright, authentic, admired, even loved, figure in the annals of public life in NSW. She has abundant prospects ahead of her.
A return to politics is not one of them.
Get set for more ICAC bashing
Secondly, we are about to witness another round of ICAC bashing. That has been going on for over three decades, ever since the corruption fighting Commission, with some well aired imperfections, was established.
The ICAC’s harshest critics are from the inner sanctum of politics, where arguably the most visible corruption call outs have taken place – now and most notably with Gladys Berejiklian.
Outbreaks of bipartisanship, especially when they affect the largely self-granted benefits, entitlements, privileges, governance and freedoms of members of parliament, public officials and political parties should be treated with scepticism and thoroughly raked over.
No one should underestimate the power, ability and willingness of the political class to look after itself. Bi-partisan support for policy, including reform of the ICAC, may mean in the most practical sense a green light, but there are also occasions when it should mean a red flag. Watch this space.
Michael Yabsley is a former NSW minister who served in the government of former premier Nick Greiner. He left parliament in 1994, having served for a decade. He now campaigns for greater political transparency, especially in the area of donations.