Gladys Berejiklian quits as NSW premier: Resurfaces at her office after four days of hiding

BREAKING NEWS: Gladys Berejiklian resurfaces at her office after four days of hiding ‘in a city hotel’ and breaks her silence over shock resignation

By Padraig Collins and Charlie Moore, Political Reporter For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 00:13 BST, 6 October 2021 | Updated: 00:33 BST, 6 October 2021

Gladys Berejiklian has been seen for the first time since she resigned as NSW Premier over a corruption investigation.  

The 51-year-old turned up at her electorate office in Northbridge on Wednesday morning to go back to work as a backbench MP. 

Wearing a mask in accordance with Covid-19 rules, she picked up flowers and cards which were left outside the door by devastated constituents and said the messages were ‘very comforting’.

‘I want everyone to know that I will read every single card, every single message,’ Ms Berejiklian said.

Asked how she has been going since stepping down, the former premier said: ‘Oh OK thank you’.

She also urged residents to support her successor Dominic Perrottet who was sworn in on Wednesday. 

‘I just want to say a big thank you to everyone, and I want everyone to get behind Premier Perrottet, I know he will be an outstanding leader,’ she said.

‘Follow the Premier’s words and make sure we come out of this lockdown as safely as possible.’

Gladys Berejiklian has been seen for the first time since she resigned over a corruption investigation

Daily Mail Australia understands Ms Berejiklian has been holed up in an inner-city hotel to avoid the media over the past four days.   

Ms Berejiklian went straight home after revealing she would step down as state leader on Friday.

But her Jeep four-wheel-drive parked only briefly in her drive in Northbridge on Sydney’s leafy lower north shore.

The cameras then captured the car quickly fleeing back across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Since then, there has been a media scrum outside her house, but no sign of Ms Berejiklian. 

Mr Maguire is under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) after admitting to financially benefitting from his former job as an MP

The former premier did not even show up for the Liberal Party meeting at the state Parliament to choose her successor.   

The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her secret ex-boyfriend and former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire between 2012 and 2018. 

It is probing her role in multi-million dollar government grants to a gun club and conservatorium of music in his electorate. 

On Saturday Mr Maguire was spotted carrying a rifle and puffing on a cigarette at his home in Wagga Wagga.

The 62-year-old was the Liberal MP for the area from 1999 until he quit under a corruption cloud in 2018. He is still under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. 

Why did Gladys Berejiklian resign? 

Ms Berejiklian quit on Friday after the state’s corruption watchdog said it was investigating her.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her secret ex-boyfriend and former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire between 2012 and 2018. 

It will also probe whether she breached public trust by not reporting any suspicion of corrupt conduct and what role she had to play in two government grants handed out in Mr Maguire’s electorate. 

The NSW corruption watchdog ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her ex-boyfriend and former MP Daryl Maguire (pictured together)

An ICAC public inquiry on the matter will be held for about 10 days from October 18, overseen by Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl SC. 

Mr Maguire is accused of abusing his public office after admitting being involved in a cash-for-visa scheme and seeking secret commissions for brokering property deals. He was forced to resign in 2018. 

In an emotional 10-minute speech on Friday Ms Berejiklian denied any wrongdoing and slammed the watchdog for announcing its investigation into her as the state emerges from a four-month Covid lockdown.

‘Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do,’ she said.

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