Premier gave $40,000 from her discretionary fund to Daryl Maguire's electorate: inquiry
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian gave her lover Daryl Maguire's Wagga Wagga electorate six grants totalling $40,000 from her discretionary fund during 2017 and 2018, an inquiry has heard.
Two of Ms Berejiklian's senior staff were called before the NSW parliamentary inquiry into council grants on Friday following the government's admission that no signed approvals existed of the Premier and other senior ministers' handling of the $250 million Stronger Communities Fund.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian issued grants from her discretionary fund to the former Wagga MP Daryl Maguire's electorate, an inquiry has heard.Credit:Getty
Emails from Ms Berejiklian's senior policy adviser Sarah Lau stated that the Premier personally signed off on almost $142 million in grants in the lead-up to the 2019 state election, with the majority of the money going to Coalition held seats.
But Ms Lau told the inquiry that her use of the word "sign off" was just a turn of phrase.
"It would have been more accurate to say that she confirmed she was comfortable with the proposed projects. Because the truth is, she was not approving any payment under the grants program," Ms Lau said.
She said it was actually the role of the Office of Local Government head Tim Hurst to approve the funding, an assertion Mr Hurst has previously contradicted in his own evidence before the inquiry.
Ms Berejiklian on Thursday distanced her involvement from the scheme, created in 2016 by the Baird government to financially assist councils that had been amalgamated, by saying that she had not signed off on them.
Ms Berejiklian's former chief of staff Sarah Cruickshank, who earlier this month gave evidence at an Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing into misconduct allegations against Mr Maguire, also faced the upper house inquiry.
Ms Cruickshank has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
In a question put to Ms Cruickshank towards the end of the morning's hearing, Labor's Courtney Houssos said, "the electorate of Wagga received six grants from the Premier's discretionary fund in 2017-18 worth a total of $40,536."
"Are you aware of the Premier making any disclosures about her relationship with Daryl Maguire before approving these funds?" Ms Houssos asked, to which Ms Cruickshank replied, "no, I'm not."
Sarah Cruickshank, the former chief of staff to Premier Gladys Berejiklian.Credit:Kate Geraghty
Ms Cruickshank went on to qualify that she may not have necessarily been aware of any disclosures as she believed they could be made directly to the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Ms Berejiklian's office and the Department has been approached by the Herald about the nature of the grants, as well as whether any disclosures were made.
Ms Cruickshank had earlier confirmed to the hearing the fund was administered at the total discretion of the Premier.
Labor's John Graham put to Ms Cruickshank that a declaration should have been made if a conflict of interest had occurred.
Ms Cruickshank responded that she wasn't certain whether or not it was a requirement for the discretionary fund, but it sounded "plausible".
"I think you are probably right," she said.
More to come
Angus Thompson is an Urban Affairs reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.