Gladys Berejiklian was 43 and had never tasted real romance when she fell for the man who would spell disaster for her.
The former NSW Premier – branded ‘seriously corrupt’ on Thursday by ICAC’s investigation – admitted in 2020 she’d never previously had a long-term relationship.
But in 2013, that all changed when Ms Berejiklian first met Liberal Wagga Wagga state MP and father-of-two Daryl Maguire and their affair blossomed in 2015, .
The pair launched a secret romance – going on holiday as a couple, giving her lover a key to her home, talked of marriage and even raising children together, Maguire said.
But it was all new territory for Ms Berejiklian, now 52, who called Maguire her ‘numero uno’.
Her life until then had been devoted to carving out a high-flying political career, until Maguire embroiled her in his own alleged corruption and triggered her downfall.
In 2013, the lonely love life of Gladys Berejiklian was transformed when she met Wagga Wagga MP and father-of-two Daryl Maguire (pictured together) and their affair blossomed in 2015
The nerdy, squeaky-clean and slightly gawky Girl Guide focused on being a model student and Gladys Bererjiklian (pictured in 1987) rose to be a school prefect and later school captain
Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) doubled down on her over-achievements in university where she famously celebrated her 21st wearing a self-confessed ’embarrassing’ Superwoman outfit
The eldest of three sisters, born in Manly on Sydney’s northern beaches in 1970 to an immigrant family fleeing genocide, she only spoke Armenian until the age of five.
As well as younger siblings Rita, now 51, and Mary, now 47, Ms Berejiklian also had a secret twin sister who died in childbirth.
The tragedy broke the heart of her parents Arsha and Krikor – and proved the driving force behind the future premier’s determination to succeed in life.
She went on to attend North Ryde High School, later renamed Peter Board High – but while her classmates enjoyed teenage romances, the young Ms Berejiklian’s focus was elsewhere.
The nerdy, squeaky-clean and slightly gawky Girl Guide set her sights on being a model student instead – and rose to be a school prefect and later school captain.
‘I was extremely competitive and wanted good marks but from the talk of the kids I hung out with in our neighbourhood, I was doomed,’ Berejiklian once admitted.
‘Based on what the local kids told me, every kid who went to North Ryde High got bashed up and was forced to take drugs.
‘This petrified me. I didn’t even know what drugs were but I was pretty sure they were bad.’
She doubled down again on her over-achievements in university where she famously celebrated her 21st wearing a self-confessed ’embarrassing’ Superwoman outfit.
Between leaving school and 2001, she earned a Bachelor of Arts and a graduate diploma in international studies from the University of Sydney, and a Masters of Commerce from the University of New South Wales.
Away from the textbooks, she quickly made a name for herself in the Liberal Party, joining in 1993 and rapidly becoming President of the NSW Young Liberals in 1997.
She was also a general manager executive with Commonwealth Bank, handling government and industry affairs for five years before dedicating her life to politics.
Behind the scenes, she served in a series of party roles including working for former Liberal Opposition leader Peter Collins and senator Helen Coonan.
She was campaign director for Mr Collins’s safe seat in Willoughby in the 1999 state election – and when he retired four years later, she would take the seat for herself.
Throughout her career in Macquarie St – which saw her fast-tracked onto the front bench in 2005, just two years after arriving in parliament – there was constant ongoing speculation about her apparently loveless love life.
Whispers among MPs and staffers questioned the sexual preferences of the confirmed spinster and why she remained stubbornly single into her late-40s.
But the truth was that for most of her life, there was simply nothing going on in her private life. Her political worklife was all-consuming for the driven but shy leader.
‘In public life, part of my M.O. has been to not stray from core business – after all, I have been elected to do a job, and to do it well,’ she said.
‘I’m very lucky…For me, every day in life is a bonus. I had a twin sister and she didn’t make it. It was just luck that I came out first.
‘Imagine if you had a twin; you came out first, they didn’t make it, I feel like I’ve got to justify my existence by sacrificing.
‘So I don’t care if I’m not happy all the time. I feel like I’ve got to work hard.’
And then she met Maguire.
Gladys Berejiklian (bottom right) with her parents Arsha and Krikor and sisters Rita and Mary
Gladys Berejiklian (back row) is the oldest of three sisters. The former NSW Premier only revealed in 2020 that she had a twin sister who was stillborn, who she learned of as a child
Gladys Berejiklian (centre) with her sisters Rita (left) and Mary (right) in 2019
Even after details of their affair leaked during the ICAC investigation into Maguire, Ms Berejiklian desperately tried to downplay it.
‘He wasn’t my boyfriend,’ she told 2GB radio in 2020. ‘He wasn’t anything of note. I didn’t want to introduce him to my social circle.’
But the latest transcripts released by ICAC told a different story of a close bond with Maguire where the country town MP wore the trousers and ruled the roost.
In a phone call on Valentine’s Day in 2018, Maguire berated her for being ‘so mean’ to him and not looking impressed by him.
‘I forget that I need to look like you impress me,’ she replied. ‘I mean I forget that I’m meant to be with you know technically the Premier…
‘Because normally you’re the boss and it’s hard when we have to switch it around – that’s the truth.’
He replied: ‘But I am the boss, even when you’re the Premier.’
She admitted: ‘I know. So therefore it’s hard when I had to switch it around.’
He added: ‘Glad, even when you are the Premier, I am the boss – alright?’
‘Yes, I know,’ she said.
Grilled by ICAC, Maguire admitted he loved Ms Berejiklian – and as far he knew, she loved him. She later agreed she was in a ‘close personal relationship’ with him.
The secret love compromised her decision while state treasurer in 2016 to approve a $5.5million upgrade of Wagga’s clay target shooting club in 2016 and a $22million conservatory of music in 2018.
The 688-page Independent Commission Against Corruption report found she had breached the public trust by failing to disclose her personal relationship with Maguire when she was treasurer and later premier.
That included sitting on a cabinet committee as it dealt with the multi-million-dollar projects enthusiastically pushed by Maguire to benefit his electorate.
Dubbed ‘an unsatisfactory witness in many respects’, Ms Berejiklian’s denial that she had ever suspected Maguire was potentially engaging in corrupt conduct was also rejected.
Her failure to act on that suspicion and report Maguire formed one of the five planks of the ICAC’s ultimate ‘serious corrupt conduct’ finding against her.
‘Her deliberate failure to disclose the relationship in those circumstances, knowing her public duty, was wilful,’ ICAC said.
‘It was also in bad faith: there was no reasonable excuse or justification for it.’
Operation Keppel began as a probe into Maguire but was expanded to the then-premier after she was compelled to reveal the relationship in public hearings in 2020.
Ms Berejiklian denied any wrongdoing, telling ICAC the romance, which began in 2015, had ended.
She resigned as premier in October 2021 when she officially became part of the investigation.
Ironically, the ICAC investigation led to her finding apparent true love when she fell for the high-profile barrister defending her, Arthur Moses SC.
Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) resigned as premier in October 2021 when she officially became part of the ICAC investigation
The ICAC investigation led to her finding apparent true love when she fell for the high-profile barrister defending her, Arthur Moses SC (pictured together)
The romance was revealed by Ms Berejkilian’s sister Mary on Instagram (pictured) with a surprise picture of the the pair looking lovingly into each other’s eyes while sitting stiffly on a couch in formal work wear
The new romance was revealed by Ms Berejkilian’s sister Mary on Instagram with a surprise picture of the the pair looking lovingly into each other’s eyes while sitting stiffly on a couch in formal work wear.
‘After work Friday feels with these two,’ posted Mary along with loved up emojis. ‘Gladys and her new boo.’
Two years later they are still together and she is believed to be finally ready to share her life with someone else with her expected to soon move in with the top lawyer after selling her own home.
The weekend before the bombshell ICAC finds were revealed, the pair were pictured walking hand in hand as they went out for brunch on Sydney’s north shore.
On Thursday, Mr Moses refused to discuss his relationship with Ms Berejiklian – now a top executive with telco Optus – when approached by Daily Mail Australia.
He declined to comment on how her being branded ‘seriously corrupt’ reflected on his standing as one of the nation’s most-respected barristers.
But while the episode may have proved her political undoing, romantically it might just have proved the breakthrough Gladys has simply never had time for before now.
The life and times of Daryl Maguire
March 25, 1959 – Maguire is born in Hay, NSW
July 7, 1992 – Maguire runs a successful Harvey Norman furniture franchise in the Riverina capital and buys a four bedroom mid-century home in Turvey Park, Wagga Wagga, for $130,000
March 27, 1999 – Maguire is elected to NSW state parliament to represent Wagga as a Liberal MP
March 22, 2003 – Maguire is re-elected and appointed Opposition Whip
July 31, 2003 – Maguire buys 15 hectare, four bedroom family home in North Wagga for $100,000
February 5, 2005 – Maguire sells Turvey Park home for $320,000
March 24, 2007 – Maguire re-elected
March 4, 2010 – Maguire buys a one-bedroom unit on the Pacific Highway in Lane Cove, Sydney, for $240,000
March 26, 2011 – Maguire is re-elected and appointed Government Whip
October 2, 2012 – G8way International is incorporated with Wagga RSL director Phillip Elliot as sole director and shareholder. He later tells ICAC Maguire was the true director ‘who pulled all the strings’. The company was allegedly used as a cover for Maguire’s corrupt activities
2013 – Maguire splits with wife Maureen, with whom he has two children, Kara and James
May 2013 – ICAC hears G8way International’s Mr Elliot says their immigration services liaison Maggie Wang told him visa applicants ‘wouldn’t actually be turning up to full time work,’ and the scheme was based on ‘telling lies to immigration’
2013/14 – Maguire says his relationship begins with then-Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian
February 11, 2014 – The two text messages each other, as Maguire calls Ms Berejiklian ‘Hawkiss’ and brags about the money he’s making on a deal to sell a motel and Ms Berejiklian questions him about how much commission he gets
February 24, 2014 – Maguire is appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier for Rural and Regional Affairs
April 24, 2014 – Maguire is appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Veterans and the Centenary of ANZAC
November 2014 – Maguire and Ms Berejiklian are pictured meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping
2015 – Maguire allegedly tries to act as a go-between for Chinese businessmen wanting to set up a casino in the South Pacific
March 28, 2015 – Maguire is re-elected
April 2015 – Ms Berejiklian says Maguire relationship begins around the same time she is appointed Treasurer
Gladys Berejiklian said her relationship with Daryl Maguire (pictured together) began in 2015 but he claimed it was earlier in 2013 or 2014
August 26, 2015 – Maguire is appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Corrections, Emergency Services, Veterans and the Centenary of ANZAC
January 26, 2016 – Maguire writes to Ms Berejiklian seeking $4.5million in grant funding for the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga.
August 2, 2016 – Maguire defends Premier Mike Baird’s greyhound racing ban despite an outcry from the bush. His next-door neighbour and dog trainer says Maguire’s stance was because of a row over the noise of his greyhounds while Maguire was trying to sell the property
October 4, 2016 – Maguire buys weatherboard shack in Ivanhoe, NSW, for $8,000
November 17, 2016 – Maguire has a meeting with Ms Berejiklian to hasten the upgrade of the Cobb Highway which runs through Ivanhoe. The budget for the resealing project increases dramatically in the following years
February 1, 2017 – Maguire is appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Centenary of ANZAC, Counter Terrorism, Corrections and Veterans
March 2017 – Maguire emails Ms Berejiklian about the ICAC investigation delaying the clay target club project: ‘Typical of our bull***t government’
June 28, 2017 – Ownership details are adjusted on Maguire’s Lane Cove and North Wagga properties
August 2017 – An increased $5.5million grant application is approved for a new clubhouse, facilities and function centre at the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga. G8way International were later linked to the supply of furniture for the 1000-seater convention centre
September 8, 2017 – Maguire buys neighbouring property in Ivanhoe for $750. It had previously sold for $2,400 in 1992.
October 2017 – Maguire is taped telling Ms Berejiklian: ‘Wagga is the centre of the universe… That’s why we need a stadium. That’s why we need a conservatorium. That’s why we need the things that Sydney’s got.’
November 25, 2017 – Maguire is appointed an honorary advisor to the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, which aims to ‘to encourage economic exchanges between Australia and China’
December 2017 – Maguire steps down as joint director of family firm Maguire Trading
December 18, 2017 – Maguire tells broker friend William Luong he can get details of the map of the proposed M9 route for possible commercial benefit. ICAC hears Maguire had also tried to find out confidential details of land in Cawdor in the Wollondilly Shire for Mr Luong in return for a commission.
2017/18 – Maguire reaches a divorce settlement with estranged wife Maureen that is said to cost him $1.5million to buy out her share of their North Wagga property, now estimated to be worth $2.6million, their Sydney unit and horse agistment business
February 16, 2018 – Maguire publicly announces $10million funding for Riverina Conservatorium of Music with more to come
May 2018 – Ms Berejiklian tells Maguire $10 million in funding for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music has been ‘ticked off…so that’s a done deal now’ A further $20million in funding for a recital hall was axed in October 2021.
May 2018 – Maguire is alleged to have wrongly tried to use his role as chair of the NSW Parliament Asia Pacific Friendship Group to push Chinese businesses trying to sell oil products in Australia
July 13, 2018 – Maguire is exposed at ICAC’s Operation Dasha for taking commissions from property developers. Through an association with former Canterbury councillor Michael Hawatt, Maguire had allegedly taken pay offs from a ‘mega big’ Chinese client wanting to buy into approved projects
He resigns as parliamentary secretary and from the Liberal Party but remains an independent MP and vows to stay on until the March 2019 elections.
July 19, 2018 – Maguire demands privacy after the death of his son-in-law
August 3, 2018 – Maguire bows to pressure and finally resigns from Parliament
September 8, 2018 – The taint of corruption ends 61 years of Liberal MPs for Wagga with independent MP Joe McGirr winning the by-election caused by Maguire’s resignation.
At the time, Ms Berejiklian said the result sent a strong message.
‘There’s an underlying distrust of how Government works. I need to restore that and demonstrate to the community that we’re here for them,’ she said.
March 23, 2019 – Ms Berejiklian is re-elected Premier while still in a secret relationship with Maguire
February 4, 2019 – Maguire’s Lane Cove property is sold for $430,000
September 13, 2020 – Ms Berejiklian cuts off all contact with Maguire but the relationship remains secret
September 21, 2020 – ICAC hears Maguire allegedly used G8way International as cover for commercial interests in China, Australia, and the South Pacific, involving Chinese associates, and also sold government access
Two Wagga businessmen told ICAC they received $30,000 to falsely employ three Chinese nationals as part of the visa scam allegedly run through G8way International
October 12, 2020 – Ms Berejiklian reveals publicly for the first time she was in a ‘close personal relationship’ for five years with ‘my numero uno’ Maguire
October 14, 2020 – Maguire admits to ICAC that he used his position as an MP to make money for himself and his associates.
He also admits none of the applicants in G8way International’s cash-for-visa scheme ever worked on a consistent basis for the employers sponsoring them
October 16, 2021 – Maguire restarts advertising his horse agistment business – feeding and boarding other people’s horses on his 15 hectare property – on Facebook as a source of income after a four year hiatus.
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Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk