What we learned in Daryl Maguire's first day of evidence to the Icac.
That’s where I’ll leave this blog for today. You can keep following our politics live blog, including all the shenanigans unfolding in the New South Wales parliament here.
Daryl Maguire will be back in the stand for his second day of evidence tomorrow. I expect that we’ll hear more about his “close personal relationship” with Gladys Berejiklian then.
Here’s what we learned on his first day of evidence:
- The former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire made a slew of admissions early in the hearing, including that he sought to “monetise” his parliamentary office and, as the counsel assisting Icac Scott Robertson put it, “use your status” as an MP “with a view to making money”.
- He was confronted with evidence that he attempted to organise a meeting between a close friend, the property developer Joseph Alha, and then planning minister Anthony Roberts and the premier, Gladys Berejiklian.
- Those meetings were refused, but Alha did meet with Robert’s chief of staff, Rob Vellar. Vellar has previously told the Icac he was “ambushed” by the meeting, but Maguire said his text message to the staffer to come to his officer for a “glass of red” was “code” for an “informal” meeting with the developer.
- Maguire also admitted he had raised concerns about applicants to an independent planning body on behalf of Alha. But the commission heard Vellar had told him his concerns were “ridiculous” and to “stay out of it”.
- Maguire admitted he knew that a cash-for-visa scheme he helped run while still in parliament involved lying to immigration officials. The scheme involved a company which he “effectively” controlled receiving kickbacks for helping businesses employ Chinese nationals who never actually worked for the companies.
- Maguire initially said he had believed the scheme was legitimate. When he was shown evidence proving he knew otherwise, he said he told his business associate, Maggie Wang, “you cannot put people at risk by breaking the rules”. But he eventually conceded he knew it was “not a legitimate immigration scheme”.
- The same company, G8Way International, sent invoices to a Chinese company which included a fee for “an introductory service” after a function which included a meet-and-greet with the then-premier Barry O’Farrell. Maguire insisted he did not know why the invoice was sent, saying it was handled by his staff.
- Maguire also admitted to receiving thousands of dollars in cash to his parliamentary office from Wang in relation to the cash-for-visa scheme. He couldn’t recall how many times the payments occurred.
- During a press conference the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said her “tolerance for answering questions which frankly are offensive” was waning. Berejiklian said Maguire had “fooled a lot of people” in the Liberal party.
- The premier also survived a no confidence motion in the upper house, after the speaker, Liberal Party MP John Ajaka, cast the deciding vote in her favour.
Updated
Berejiklian survives no-confidence motion by a single vote
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has survived a no-confidence motion in the upper house by a single vote.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian survives a no confidence motion in the upper house by a single vote.
— Tom Rabe (@Rabe9) October 14, 2020
House is split 20-20, with the chair (Liberal John Ajaka) then casting the deciding vote.
Animal Justice Party, Fred Nile, Justin Field support government.
The former Greens MP turned independent Justin Field has just released a statement explaining his decision to oppose the motion. He wants to “reserve judgment” until the Icac has had time to “do its work and fully inform the public and political debate”.
The actions of Daryl Maguire are disgraceful and reflect not just on him but on the political party of which he was a member and a Member of Parliament. The public should and will judge the Coalition and the Premier.
If the Legislative Council is to have a credible role as the House of Review we should exercise our powers on the basis of the most complete information possible. We cannot do that at this time. Pre-empting an independent inquiry by Icac through a political process undermines the standing of the Icac. We should protect those public institutions which protect our democratic systems.
Updated
The inquiry has adjourned for the day. Maguire will be back for his second day in the witness stand at 10am tomorrow.
Maguire was told to 'stay out of it' after intervening on behalf of developer friend.
We’ve just heard that Rob Vellar, the chief of staff to the then planning minister, Anthony Roberts, told Maguire to “stay out of it” after the former Wagga Wagga MP tried to raise concerns on behalf of his developer friend Joseph Alha.
The Icac has previously heard intercepted phone calls in which Alha told Maguire about “baddies” from local councils in Sydney who he believed had applied for positions on independent planning panels. Alha previously told the Icac he had had “difficulties” with those applicants.
Robertson has just read out emails from Maguire to staff members in the planning minister’s office in which he raised concerns about some of those people.
Maguire wrote:
I’m told there are lot of shifty characters applying, beware Will Robinson.
Vellar replied:
Given we don’t know who the applicants are I hope you’re joking.
Maguire says he’s not joking, and that “friends are chatting”.
Vellar writes:
That’s bloody ridiculous, stay out of it.
Robertson puts it Maguire that he was doing this in Alha’s interest, not the public’s.
I think there was a public interest as well.
Updated
The meeting was between Maguire, Joseph Alha and Rob Vellar, the chief of staff for the then planning minister, Anthony Roberts. Vellar has previously told the Icac that he was “ambushed” by Alha’s presence at the meeting, but Maguire disputes that.
We’re told Maguire sent Vellar a text message inviting to have “a glass of red” in his Parliament House office after question time.
Maguire says the “glass of red” was code for an “informal” meeting between Vellar and Alha.
He says he discussed the meeting with Vellar on “at least on three of four occasions” and “the code was we’re having a class of red”.
Robertson asks what the “code” suggested.
Maguire:
To tell him Mr Alha had arrived and to come down and have a red and a chat.
Robertson:
As you understood it Mr Vellar was aware if he came to join you in his office for a chat that would be including Mr Alha?
Maguire:
To the best of my recollection, yes.
Maguire admits it was “highly unusual” for Vellar to come to his office for a “glass of red”, and says the intention for the code was “not to deceive” but to keep the meeting “informal”.
Robertson asks if there was “a concern [if] it was a formal meeting it would have to be recorded?”
Maguire:
Perhaps.
Updated
Robertson asks Maguire if he recalls being asked my Alha to set up a meeting for him with the premier Gladys Berejiklian and the then planning minister, Anthony Roberts.
“It’s possible. I don’t recall but it’s possible.”
So we’re played a telephone intercept from 28 September 2017 in which Alha says “I dunno how you’re going to do it but [I think I should be] privileged to one appointment with Anthony Roberts and Gladys”.
Alha says he wants to “show them my project”.
At the end of the intercept, Robertson suggests to Maguire that he sought the meeting but both Berejiklian and Roberts refused “to have a meeting with a developer over a site-specific” project as a “matter of probity”.
Robertson puts it to Maguire that he then agreed with Alha that they would instead pitch it as a “policy development meeting to avoid concerns over site-specific meetings”.
Maguire agrees.
Meetings with the minister or Berejiklian did not go ahead, but Maguire says he instead arranged a meeting with one of Roberts’s staff members.
Updated
Robertson has moved on to Maguire’s long-term friendship with Sydney property developer Joseph Alha. Maguire says he met Alha some 18 to 20 years ago, and agrees with Robertson that he had taken Alha “under your wing and been a bit of a mentor”.
“Yes and him to me,” Maguire says.
Maguire says that over the years he’s helped Alha obtain a number of meetings with ministers and staff “seeking advice over developers”.
Robertson:
Seeking advice with the ultimate view to planning applications in the broadest sense becoming approved, is that right?
Maguire:
Yes.
Updated
The commission has moved onto a potential property development deal Maguire and Maggie Wang pursued in Gladesville in 2014.
The commissioner, Ruth McColl, asks how it came to be that a real estate agent contacted Maguire over a property deal.
Maguire:
We network, politicians network, that’s our lifeblood.
McColl:
Yes but people don’t normally contact politicians if they want [a] purchase or investor for a property.
Maguire says it was just raised in a general conversation. “Those things are sometimes raised,” he says.
McColl:
With politicians acting as an intermediary for a purchase of land in Australia?
Updated
Robertson has just played an intercept of a phone call between Maguire and a member of an Australian minerals group, Malcolm Roberts.
Maguire introduces himself as the chair of the parliamentary friendship group, and tells the person on the call that he’s been approached by Chinese business people looking to link up with Australian resources companies over new oil technology.
“We’re normally the first port of call for a lot of inquiries with regards to just about everything from the Asia-Pacific countries,” Maguire says.
What Maguire doesn’t say on the call was that he and his business associate Maggie Wang were seeking to make money off the deal. At the end of the call, Roberts offers to make contact with one of Maguire’s staff to send contact details. Instead, Maguire asks him to contact him on his private email.
After the intercept is played, Robertson asks Maguire why he gave out his personal email.
Maguire:
I can’t recall why, sometimes I do.
Robertson:
Wasn’t it because you were [speaking in a] personal capacity and wanted to it keep away from any parliamentary related email addresses?
Maguire:
Yes.
Updated
Robertson asks Maguire whether he is suggesting the meetings he was helping set up for Shenzen businessmen “had any proper association with your role as chair of the NSW parliamentary Asia Pacific Friendship Group.
No, Maguire says, he is not suggesting that.
Robertson:
In particular it breaches [the rules] for using friendship groups for commercial activities?
Maguire:
Yes.
Maguire then says he also had a “philanthropic” motive for being involved in the Shenzen group. But he concedes no philanthropic projects ever proceeded.
Maguire tells Robertson he doesn’t recall arranging for a Shenzen businessman to meet with the Samoan consul.
So Robertson plays a phone intercept of Maguire and his business associate Maggie Wang discussing the Shenzen businessman having a meeting with the Samoan consul.
Robertson asks Maguire if it refreshes his memory.
It does, he says.
Updated
Robertson continues to press Maguire on whether he was hoping to make money personally as a result of his involvement in the Shenzen business group.
We’re played a phone intercept (the first of the day!) between Maguire and his close friend and partner at G8Way International, Phillip Elliott. We hear them discussing a trip to Samoa with a Shenzen businessman who was interested in setting up a casino in Samoa.
Maguire tells Elliott he helped set up a meeting between the Chinese businessman and the Samoan consulate.
He tells Elliott on the call:
They were happy with the meeting so in February I’m going to the Solomon Islands and PNG, I’m going to visit them in the next round and then March is ... 10 days in Samoa and they’re bringin’ a dozen business people.
Elliot:
Yeah nice.
Maguire:
So we’re just teeing up some meetings with the [Samoan] prime minister and other [people] so Samoa is definitely a go.
Elliott then says:
Got to get a bit of cash flow back in the tin.
Before Maguire says:
They’re the kinds of things you should talk about over a barbecue fire.
Updated
Maguire is being grilled about a number of trips he took as an MP to the South Pacific with members of the Shenzen business organisation.
Robertson is putting to Maguire that he used his “consular ties” as the chair of the parliamentary friendship group to enable the organisation to invest in the South Pacific.
Maguire insists that it wasn’t “initially”. Robertson though continues to press him on it. It was, he says, “at least an aspect” of what Maguire was able to offer.
Maguire:
It could have been yes.
Robertson:
You were using the diplomatic and consular weight of your office or at least the contacts as chair of the parliamentary friendship group to assist commerce in relation to the Shenzen business people?
Maguire:
Possible commerce, yes.
Robertson puts it to Maguire that at least one of his motives was to personally make money. Maguire says it “wasn’t the primary motive but it was a possibility, yes”.
Robertson puts it to Maguire that was “quite wrong to do”.
Maguire:
Yes.
Updated
We’re now hearing about Maguire’s role as the honorary chair of an organisation called the Shenzhen Asia Pacific Commercial Development Association.
First, Maguire admits he used his role as the chair of the Parliamentary Asia Pacific Friendship Group to help that organisation commercially, a breach of its rules.
In other words, he knew he was breaching parliamentary rules.
He then admits at least one of the reasons he was helping the Shenzen organisation “was a view to obtaining profits”.
Updated
And we’re back from lunch.
Counsel assisting the commissioner Scott Robertson is resuming from the dispatch end, with former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire to remain on strike for the foreseeable future.
I probably shouldn’t extend this joke to how many (or few) runs he scored this morning, but just know that I want to.
What we've learned so far.
While we have a moment, let’s recap on what we’ve heard during a whirlwind morning of evidence. We’re still only scratching the surface of Daryl Maguire’s evidence, though. There’s a long way to go.
- The former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire has admitted he knew that a cash-for-visa scheme he helped run while still in parliament involved lying to immigration officials. The scheme involved a company which he “effectively” controlled receiving kickbacks for helping businesses employ Chinese nationals who never actually worked for the companies.
- Maguire initially said he had believed the scheme was legitimate. When he was shown evidence proving he knew otherwise, he said he told his business associate, Maggie Wang, “you cannot put people at risk by breaking the rules”. But he eventually conceded he knew it was “not a legitimate immigration scheme”.
- The same company, G8Way International, sent invoices to a Chinese company which included a fee for “an introductory service” after a function which included a meet-and-greet with the then premier, Barry O’Farrell. Maguire insisted he did not know why the invoice was sent, saying it was handled by his staff.
- The former MP admitted that he sought to “monetise” his parliamentary office and, as the counsel assisting Icac Scott Robertson put it, “use your status” as an MP “with a view to making money”.
- Maguire also admitted to receiving thousands of dollars in cash to his parliamentary office from Wang in relation to the cash-for-visa scheme. He couldn’t recall how many times the payments occurred.
- During a press conference the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said her “tolerance for answering questions which frankly are offensive” was waning. Berejiklian said Maguire had “fooled a lot of people” in the Liberal party.
Updated
And after that nugget, we’re off to lunch.
Maguire admits he knew cash-for-visa scheme involved lying to immigration officials.
Wow. After some back-and-forth, Maguire has admitted to the Icac that he knew the visa scheme involved lying to immigration officials, but did it anyway to advance his own financial interests.
At first, Maguire says he was “misled” by the scheme, but another email from Wang makes clear that he knew so-called employees would not necessarily work for the companies they were tied to.
Robertson:
And you knew that at the time you were [introducing] at least some of the business [to the scheme], do you agree?
Maguire:
I was misled.
Robertson:
You weren’t misled by this email, in fact you were correctly led.
Maguire:
I agree.
Robertson:
The email is making clear to you that the scheme at this time involved lying to immigration officials.
Maguire:
Yes.
Robertson:
You knew it was not a legitimate immigration scheme.
Maguire:
On reflection, yes.
Robertson:
Not just on reflection, you knew at the time you were referring at least some of these businesses, do you agree?
Maguire:
Yes.
Robertson:
And you decided to proceed anyway because there was potential money for you in the event you continued to offer businesses into this immigration scheme?
Maguire:
Yes.
Robertson:
Do you agree that was something was quite wrong for you to do, noting at least many of these businesses were constituents of yours?
Maguire:
Yes.
Robertson:
It was a breach of the public trust placed in you to proceed with this immigration scheme?
Maguire:
Yes.
Robertson:
But you did it in your own personal financial interests, do you agree?
Maguire:
Yes.
Updated
After Maguire argues that he believed the visa scheme was legitimate, he’s shown correspondence between he and Maggie Wang from 2013 in which she explicitly states some workers would not turn up to work for the businesses that were supposed to be employing them.
Counsel assisting Scott Robertson reads out a text from Wang saying the employer “has no obligation to hire the person at all”.
Robertson:
Ms Wang [appears] to be making clear to you [that] if you put these businesses forward and they agree to sponsor a particular visa applicant they actually would have no obligation to hire the person at all, is that right?
Maguire:
That’s what she’s saying, yes.
Robertson says to Maguire that as of 4 February 2013 he was “on notice” that “what Ms Wang was proposing to you and what Ms Wang was involved in was what I’ve called a cash for visa scheme”.
Maguire:
I would agree but with the precursor that I took steps to correct that.
Maguire insists he remembers having a “heated conversation about the workers having to turn up”.
But he concedes when Robertson puts to him that he knew there was a “high likelihood the rules would be broken”.
Updated
Upper house test for Berejiklian
Looks like the no-confidence motion against NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian in the upper house will go down later this afternoon, on the casting vote of the president.
Labor has been refused a pair for Shaoquett Moselmane, who is on leave while under investigation for his ties to China. The independent, Justin Field, two Animal Justice party Mps and Fred Nile look set to vote with the government.
Asked whether she could govern without the confidence of the Upper House, Berejiklian said: “Lets just see what happens.”
The vote is not till after 4pm, so the landscape could change. A vote of no confidence in the upper house would not affect the government’s ability to govern, but signals a bumpier than usual road with the minor parties in coming weeks.
Updated
Back to Icac, where Maguire has been arguing that he believed the cash for visa scheme he began with Maggie Wang was legitimate.
He says he became concerned that the workers employed with the scheme were not actually acting as employees, and told Wang: “You cannot put people at risk by breaking the rules.”
We know though that the Chinese nationals involved in the scheme were effectively paying their own wages while employed by a business, as well as paying a “training” fee and another fee to G8Way.
Robertson isn’t buying it:
This was a cash-for-visas scheme, wasn’t it?
Maguire:
It appears that way, yes.
Robertson tells Maguire that he was “put on notice of at least the possibility that this was a scam” but did not do anything about it because he was making money.
Maguire agrees.
Updated
Maguire 'fooled a lot of people': Berejiklian
While Maguire has been giving evidence, Gladys Berejiklian has given her regular Covid-19 press conference, which at times became testy when it inevitably moved to the subject of the Icac hearings.
She said she had been “overwhelmed” by support from the public and again repeated her insistence that she “would be the first one to admit if I had done something wrong, but I have not”.
The premier became animated in her response to suggestions that her private and public life could not be clearly separated.
I will not have innuendo, incorrect statements put to me which I have found offensive, but in due course I have accepted to answer everything, because it is in the public interest for the public to have confidence in me, and that’s why I’ve been very, very open about things that are very difficult to talk about.
She cautioned reporters to “please be careful with the dots you’re trying to draw which simply do not exist” and warned that her “tolerance for answering questions which frankly are offensive” was waning.
Asked about Maguire’s evidence this morning that he had used his office to conduct his business, she said:
If any of us had known he’d been doing that since 2012 ... of course we would have reported it. But obviously he fooled a lot of people.
Asked whether Maguire had made a fool of her, she said “that’s for others to make judgment on”.
Updated
Robertson is now asking Maguire about the cash-for-visa scheme Maguire established with his business associate Maggie Wang. We’ve previously heard the scheme paid businesses to employ Chinese nationals who never actually worked, and then G8Way received a fee.
Robertson:
Your role in that particular immigration matter was to identify businesses usually in or around the Wagga area as potential nominators or sponsors of Chinese nationals who might seek visas?
Maguire:
Yes ... some of these people were met at functions and events and things and I can’t be clear if I introduced them directly but in some way shape or form through my network they would [have been].
Robertson:
Is it right that the arrangement was G8Way would be entitled to a fee for facilitating each immigration placement?
Maguire:
Yes
Robertson:
And how much was that fee?
Maguire:
My recollection is that it varies.
Robertson:
Was there a usual fee?
Maguire:
Somewhere between 10 and 15 [thousand], I thought.
We then hear that G8Way concealed the payments that Maguire received.
Robertson:
You wanted to keep your involvement in G8Way off the books?
Maguire:
Yes.
We see that in one email Maguire says that the “success fee” paid by Chinese nationals to G8Way International was $20,000. He disputes that it would have been that much.
Updated
We’re back and Robertson dives straight into grilling Maguire over an invoice sent to the Chinese delegation on a G8Way International letterhead which included a “fee for introduction”.
Robertson asks if the fee was raised with Maguire, who says he doesn’t remember.
Robertson presses him, asking, “surely before an invoice from G8Way International associated with an event you were running at least partly as a parliamentarian would be drawn to your attention?”
I don’t recall seeing it ... I would have thought so.
Updated
We’re now taking a 15 minute recess adjournment.
Maguire's company sent invoice for parliamentary function attended by Barry O'Farrell
We’re being told that one of Maguire’s staff sent an invoice on a G8Way International letterhead after a parliamentary function in which Maguire arranged for a Chinese delegation to meet with the former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell.
Maguire agrees he had a “good relationship” with O’Farrell while he was still premier and arranged for a Chinese delegation to meet with the then premier over a $400m trade centre proposed to be built near Maguire’s seat in Wagga Wagga in 2012.
O’Farrell was not asked to attend a later signing ceremony, and was not involved in the issuing of the invoice.
The invoice was for “room decorations and set-up activity”, and Maguire says the costs included things like signage and flowers.
Maguire:
There was a luncheon that was hosted, there was the preparation of signage and flowers and all the traditional things that needed to be provided for the signing ceremony ... There was a concern that those costs would not be paid and that I would be left with the account.
Robertson is asking why the invoice was sent on a G8Way International letterhead.
Maguire says he can’t recall. There was, he says, a “big kerfuffle over getting paid”.
I’m not 100% sure of all of the details but I know the staff were very concerned ... this was managed by my staff.
The inquiry then hears the Chinese delegation was also sent an invoice purporting to relate to a fee for an introductory service.
Maguire insists the invoice relates to “a luncheon”.
Updated
Maguire is asked whether he ever set up meetings with ministers for a fee.
Not with my authority, no.
Robertson asks whether Maguire thought it was “too far” to do that.
Yes, Maguire replies.
Robertson asks: “Do you seriously draw that distinction?”
Updated
Robertson is asking Maguire about a G8Way International document about commission payments. He’s asking about the value of the deals the company secured.
Maguire:
I don’t think there were many successful deals at all.
Robertson suggests that’s not quite true, but we have also heard previously that Maguire had several business proposals or ideas which never got off the ground.
Maguire is asked if he every disclosed income he received from G8Way International.
Maguire:
Not that I recall.
He tells Robertson he “can’t recall” why he didn’t.
I just didn’t.
Asked whether he didn’t disclose the income because it might bring unwanted scrutiny on his business dealings, Maguire replies:
Possibly, yes.
Updated
We’re hearing about Maguire’s role at G8Way International, the company he “effectively” controlled.
Robertson asks whether Maguire “deliberately didn’t want to be appointed as a director of G8Way International because you wanted to conceal any record?”
Maguire:
Yes.
Robertson suggests to Maguire that he was concerned if he disclosed it, “questions might be asked as to whether it was appropriate for you to be a director of such a company?”
Maguire:
Um, yes.
But now Robertson and commissioner Ruth McColl are pushing Maguire on why he was concerned about that. Parliamentary secretaries are allowed to have outside business interests, so why was he worried about it being known?
Maguire says he doesn’t know.
Robertson asks whether it was correct that part of what G8Way International was offering was “access to the highest levels of government”. That was specifically referred to in G8Way International promotional material and Robertson asks if that was an “oblique” reference to Maguire.
Maguire:
I would think so, yes ... it would have to be me.
Robertson:
So one of the things G8Way was trying to sell was influence and experience that would reach to the highest levels of government?
Maguire:
Yes.
Robertson puts it to Maguire that the reason he didn’t want to be appointed formally as a director was that he was “seeking to sell access and influence to the highest levels of government”.
Maguire:
I don’t recall that was one of the reasons, I don’t recall that.
Updated
Premier Gladys Berejiklian will face two no confidence motions in the NSW parliament today in the wake of revelations about her close personal relationship with disgraced MP for Wagga, Daryl Maguire.
Labor is confident they have the numbers in the upper house to pass a motion.
While an upper house motion will have no practical effect because the premier is a member of the lower house, it will be a blow to the government, both symbolically and in terms of its relations with the minor parties.
Berejiklian’s government depends on support of minor parties to pass legislation through the upper house.
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party have already declared that they will not be supporting government legislation until the matter is resolved or Berejiklian stands down.
It would take just three other upper house members to take a hard line for the business of government to be log-jammed.
Labor says that if the motion is successful, it will be the first time a senior minister from the lower house has been censured in the upper house since former Labor transport minister, Carl Scully, received such a vote.
Another censure will follow this afternoon in the lower house but will be defeated on the numbers.
Updated
Maguire sought to "monetise" his parliamentary office: Icac
Robertson puts it to Maguire that “effectively you turned your office on Macquarie Street to an office for G8Way International”.
G8Way International is the business Maguire “effectively controlled”.
Maguire:
Partly, partly.
Robertson:
And I take it that you understood at the time that you weren’t permitted to use your parliament house office or for that matter your parliamentary staff and resources in the way you did for the benefit of for example G8Way International?
Maguire:
Yes.
Robertson puts it to Maguire that he sought to “monetise your office” as an MP, and sought to “use your status” as an MP “with a view to making money”.
Maguire asks Robertson to ask the question a second time. Eventually he responds: yes.
Updated
Maguire admits to receiving thousands in cash at parliament office.
Maguire concedes what we’ve previously heard during the inquiry. That as an MP he received thousands of dollars in cash from his business associate Maggie Wang. The money was proceeds from a cash-for-visa scheme the two set up.
Counsel assisting Scott Robertson:
Do you agree that while you were a member of parliament you used your office in parliament house in the course of seeking to pursue your own business interests?
Maguire:
Yes
Robertson asks Maguire whether as an MP he received deliveries to his office of “thousands of dollars in cash associated with a scheme involving the obtaining of Australian visas for Chinese nationals?”
Maguire:
Yes
Robertson:
Do you recall how many times?
Maguire:
No I don’t
Robertson:
Was it more than one occasion?
Maguire:
Yes
Robertson:
But less than 20?
Maguire:
I don’t know. I don’t recall.
Updated
We’re taking a while to get through what Maguire believed his responsibilities were in relation to secondary employment while he was an MP.
Parliamentary secretaries in NSW are allowed to pursue secondary employment, as long as the MP does not misuse their office and declares conflicts of interest.
Maguire seems to indicate that was his understanding.
Robertson asks whether Maguire knew that as the chair of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Friendship Group he was prohibited from using the group to engage in activities of a commercial nature.
Maguire:
I see the document, I couldn’t recall it directly until you showed it to me, but I agree that’s what it says.
The commissioner Ruth McColl interjects to ask that surely he would have been aware of it as the chair.
Maguire:
I should have.
Updated
Robertson is asking Maguire if he understood his responsibility under the ministerial code of conduct. It includes not acting dishonestly, to act only in accord with what the minister considers the public interest and not act improperly for the private benefit of the minister or anyone else.
Maguire says he understood his responsibilities, though he is quibbling slightly over whether he received actual training over the code.
Updated
We’re running through Maguire’s political biography. At the time of his resignation he was a parliamentary secretary for the Centenary of Anzac, Counter Terrorism, Corrections and Veterans Affairs. He was also chair of the NSW parliamentary Asian Friendship Group from 2011 until his resignation in 2018.
Robertson is asking Maguire if he understood his various responsibilities as an MP for disclosing pecuniary interests. He answers “yes” each time.
The counsel assisting Scott Robertson is doing some house keeping before we begin. He says his questioning of Maguire will go for “at least the whole of today”, most of tomorrow and possibly Friday. Better get comfortable...
Updated
Daryl Maguire is in the stand. His evidence is about to begin.
If you’re still catching up, yesterday’s hearing featured Maggie Wang, a former business associate of Maguire’s.
We heard that when Maguire learned Icac was starting to take an interest in his affairs, the former Wagga Wagga MP told Wang that his phone and Ipad had had an unfortunate run-in with a tractor.
While we wait for the hearing to begin, the big story this morning, via Christopher Knaus and I, is that in 2017 Gladys Berejiklian met with two convicted criminals to discuss “gaming issues” in a meeting set up by Daryl Maguire.
The Labor opposition asked questions about the meeting at the time, and says the disclosure that the two were in a relationship raises fresh questions about how it came about.
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings which have plunged the New South Wales state government into chaos.
Today, the former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire will front the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption. The stakes are high.
Maguire, who resigned in 2018, is at the centre of an investigation into whether he misused his position as an MP and parliamentary secretary to improperly gain a benefit for himself or for G8way International, a company he “effectively controlled”.
But depending on what Maguire says today, his evidence could also decide the future of the state’s premier, Gladys Berejiklian.
On Monday, Berejiklian revealed she had been in a secret “close personal relationship” with Maguire since about 2015, and wire taps played during her extraordinary evidence revealed Maguire had told her about potentially improper property deals he was seeking to make while still an MP.
Berejiklian has so far refused to resign, insisting she did nothing wrong. So far her colleagues are continuing to publicly support her, but what Maguire says today could decide whether that support remains.
The hearing is due to begin at 10am.
