Like everyone I’ve been watching the news reports about the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s investigation of former New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian. She must now be feeling like someone with a car right on her rear bumper bar – this happened to me just the other day and I pulled over to let the guy pass me and go on his way (but in Berejiklian’s case she’s the target and so won’t be able to get away).
Not in the short term anyway. Longer-term she’ll emerge from this debacle prosperous in some other walk of life and in five years’ time when people report on her activities the community’ll need reminding of why she quit office.
What she’ll definitely be remembered for will be her generosity. Berejiklian’s urge to help other people is what made her such a great premier but it’s what led her to indulge Daryl Maguire as well. Berejiklian identified transport as a big issue for Sydneysiders so embarked in an extensive program of spending on roads and rail. She saw that immunisation would be the way to save people from dying of Covid so she opened up vaccination clinics and got pharmacies to start offering the service as well. She knew that retailers and landlords were suffering because of a lack of international students and working holiday visa holders – let alone other classes of resident – and so she made sure the vaccination rate stayed high for an extended period of time.
Her 11am pressers were part of her modus operandi as a giver. She was always helpful and she cared about other people, so when her boyfriend showed a willingness to press for advantage for his electorate she responded in typical style and promised to channel cash to the coffers of organisations in Wagga Wagga. It was all of a piece with her stellar efforts on behalf of the people of NSW but when I listen to her replies in the phone-tap recordings what strikes me is that she felt aggrieved at Maguire’s importunity and so it’s more than possible that she was just trying to find a way to make him let off the pressure.
“I’ll fix it” could be a nicer way of saying “Shut up”. “Leave me alone.” I predict that there’ll be no police investigation and no prosecution in Berejiklian’s case. On the other hand the NSW Liberals’ tendency to pork-barrel remains something of a bug bear for me. So the focus on her use of tax payers’ money remains an important discussion topic.
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