Not a dry eye in the house... Men are bastards...

 

 

Gladys Berejiklian has described revelations of her secret relationship with a fellow parliamentarian as “humiliating and embarrassing”.

She then proceeded to discuss the details at length in a media blitz in which she was asked if she had engaged in same-sex encounters; confessed she had "given up on love"; and said she wanted to marry the man she was having a relationship with but who was not her boyfriend.

After a week of damaging revelations at the corruption commission raising questions about her judgment over a secret relationship with disgraced MP Daryl Maguire that threaten her grip on the top job, the Premier conducted interviews with Sunday Telegraph gossip columnist Annette Sharp, radio's Ben Fordham and FM radio duo Kyle and Jackie O.

In the Sunday Tele piece, the Premier confessed she fell in love with Maguire and had hoped the relationship might lead to marriage. But now she had "given up on love”.

Interviewed in a cafe in her northern Sydney electorate, Berejiklian was pictured looking pensive and reflective with the story reporting she was greeted by a number of well-wishers. An accompanying poll of Telegraph readers assured, "Gladys has done nothing bad".

Coincidentally, Berejiklian reportedly bumped into 2GB’s Fordham at the same cafe. It obviously went well because they caught up again on Monday morning for a lengthy chat on Fordham’s breakfast radio program. Fordham, an outspoken supporter of Berejiklian, aired a string of calls praising the Premier including Bernice, who said: “Dry your tears, hold your head up high, we’re 100 per cent behind you sweetheart.”

Fordham, whose 2GB is a stablemate of the Herald and The Age, wanted to know if Berejiklian, who manages a state budget of a couple of billion, was a novice in the dating game?

“It’s fair to say that on average I would probably have less experience than the average person, but that’s an excruciating thing to talk about,' she said.

Proving she has the mettle for the top job, the Premier pushed on.

"I’ve always been focused on my job and my work and my family and I haven’t really had time for a lot else to be honest."

Why didn’t she tell anyone about the relationship?

"It wasn’t a normal relationship, he wasn’t my boyfriend. I certainly hoped he would be, but it wasn’t sufficiently substantial. I didn’t want to introduce anyone to my close network unless I knew," she said. "I was certainly in love with him … but no, he wasn’t my boyfriend."

Why did she continue the relationship after sacking him for earlier allegations of corruption?

 

Read on:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hardly-a-dry-eye-in-sydney-after-premier-s-post-icac-media-blitz-20201019-p566jv.html

 

 

Obviously men are bastards. As I was driving on, contributing to global warming in my little car, I saw this ugly message:

May Gladys carry on for many years contributing to the destruction of this lovely city, Sydney...

 

And had Gladys been a bloke, he would have been on his arse, thrown out unceremoniously out of political life... drinking his bottle of Grange Hermitage by the side of the road...

A majority of voters approve of the performances of Gladys Berejiklian and Daniel Andrews despite both premiers weathering bouts of intense public and political criticism in recent weeks, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

In results suggestive that incumbency is powerful during a global and national crisis, 68% of the sample of 1,082 voters approve of Berejiklian’s performance despite rolling controversy last week about the New South Wales premier’s undisclosed relationship with disgraced MP Daryl Maguire, and 54% gave Andrews the thumbs up despite ongoing political criticismabout the Victorian government’s management of Covid-19.

Annastacia Palaszczuk – in the middle of a tough election fight in Queensland– also maintains majority support, with 62% of the sample expressing either approval or strong approval. The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, leads the pack on 84% approval and South Australia’s Steven Marshall has 52% approval.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/20/essential-poll-majority-still-approve-of-gladys-berejiklian-and-daniel-andrews

 

 

Another ‘‘stuff up’’, Premier? (‘‘No signed approvals on $250 million in grants’’, October 19). These grants were mostly to Coalition-held seats. Honesty, integrity and fairness apparently did not figure in the decision making. Disgraceful and an insult to all those deserving communities who missed out.

Denis Suttling, Newport Beach

So, $250 million in council grants, almost all in Coalition seats, just before the past state election. No signed paperwork. And $100 million directly approved by Gladys (‘‘I’ve done nothing wrong’’) Berejiklian, the only records of the deals being a few emails. It just goes on and on.

Paul Parramore, Sawtell

The Premier’s crown slipped following revelations of her poor judgment over Daryl Maguire, but there was some public sympathy for her. However, the approval of more than $250 million in council grants in predominantly Coalitionheld seats before the last election was not a matter of the heart ruling the head. This was a deliberate decision to underhandedly spend public money to the advantage of her party. It will irrevocably damage the trust she has won. She has told us that she has worked her guts out for the people of NSW, but it seems this work has not been done in an equitable way. No guidelines, no publicity, no application process. No wonder the public is so cynical about politics and politicians.

Lyn Savage, Coogee

Last week I applied on behalf of Dunecare volunteers for a local government environmental levy grant of $5000 to spend on weed eradication on beachside NSW Crown land. To do so, I spent a week collecting evidence, letters of support and permissions from various authorities at state and local level. The process involved documentation and accountability levels that would break the world high jump record. And all this to take care of the vulnerable beach dune system and a small patch of endangered littoral rainforest, owned by the state government, which refuses to provide funding to maintain it. Far from being married to NSW, Berejiklian is married to the power that allows her to distribute unjustified funding.

Peter Hull, Hat Head

Hang on: Berejiklian is widely regarded as a competent manager? How can we overlook land clearing under this government? The Crown casino construction; the stadium and Powerhouse debacles; the sale of the Lands and Titles office; mining under dams; plans to raise the Warragamba Dam wall; people living through winter in caravans after losing everything in bushfires; the proliferation of brumbies in the Snowy Mountains; the decimation of native fauna and particularly the koala population; the neglect of staffing in national parks, which exacerbated the bushfire disaster; the cracking in houses near motorway constructions; hundreds of demountable classrooms and the understaffing in schools; and the freezing of emergency workers’ pay. These are all failures of this government. I’m just warming up with this list. We are so complacent. Why do we accept these failures by this government? ‘‘No compromise Gladys’’ would be a more appropriate description.

Kate Broadfoot, Bulli

 

 

Yes, the sewage still flows from Macquarie Street... Read from top.

 

 

Read from top.

 

Doing the round of some shock-jocks and turd polishers at the Daily CONservative to apologise for “what went wrong”, premier Gladys was brilliant:

From secret sex to a George Costanza fetish, Kyle Sandilands didn’t hold back when firing off cringey questions to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian about her relationship with former MP Daryl Maguire. 

She also spoke to Ben Fordham on 2GB where she said she was in love with Mr Maguire but he wasn’t her boyfriend.

The KIIS FM host confessed he once thought Ms Berejiklian was into members of the same sex, which the Premier said was not the case but argued there would be nothing wrong with it if she was.

He continued to poke the Premier about “getting her freak on” with Mr Maguire in an embarrassing interview before suggesting there were similarities between the pair having both had relationships with colleagues.

“You’d think the premier and Kyle Sandilands couldn’t be two more polar opposites but then I was having sex with seven people at the radio station I worked at in Perth when I was living over there,” he said.


The Premier quipped: “Well, that’s a record I can’t break.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/gladys-berejiklian-quizzed-about-why-she-was-drawn-to-her-former-lover/news-story/

Guffaw and the world’s problems are solved… Gus Lunatic thinks the planet should be ruled by shock-jocks and gossip columnists. At least we would have a “good laugh” rather than being hit by bombs and bomshells — or boredom…

The Kyle moment is typical of cleaning a black slate by painting it blacker. See Kyle did far worse than Gladys and he is still there in the middle of a field of shockjockery clover for the middle-aged youth. Like a boo-ey (american pronunciation for buoy) Kyle threw his own misdemeanour at the premier as a life-saving device. No questions about the rest of political shenanigans by the strait shooting madam — like ramrodding a Westconnex and destroying councils. The apologies were in bloom. Roses have thorns, but they are beautiful...

Apologia in classical times simply meant “defense”. In a court of law, an apologetic was the making of a defense for the defendant at trial. Such was the case of the Apology by Plato who apparently was setting forth the case made by Socrates during his trial before the court at Athens.

 

But unlike a philosophying Socrates, the premier went on spilling (some of) the beans, probably fishing for sympathy and forgiveness. I am not saying that the premier is a sociopath, but this is a prime technique used by sociopaths when found out. When their bad deed are exposed, psychopaths would go on a rampage of slash and burn. We won’t mention the world leader who is on the edge of both… As mentioned before on this site, we all have traits of these two form of defence, when pushed to the limit of our tether. We will either lie (even by telling some truth, that is well-managed to hide the reality of the damage) or destroy — these actions at personal and society level (going to war). But it all depends on the length of our tether. In most circumstances, we're made to accept “guilt”, because of our Christian education, while the cleverer person will admit “goof”… and the public shame moves on, modified into martyrdom.

 

We can only admire the courage in spilling the near-salacious confidences, while we should also admire the cunning of deflecting the full force of the law into a small ball of dust in the corner of the room while empathy and sympathy are blooming everywhere on a pile of crap… Admirable skill that propels the unforgivable, the indefensible into the stratosphere of forgiveness. "We've must all have done worse..." This is the skills used by lawyers for the defence: the apologia… The list of political goofs has long been accepted as savvy by most dumb-butts in the tunnels, but as the sewage of corruption is coming towards us, the hurt of love becomes a magnificent cleaning fluid.

 

As the premier says, “that’s a record I can’t break.".

 

More "goofs" coming our way? Sure... George Costanza beware...

 

The premier should resign. My view. GL.

 

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One Nation’s Mark Latham has told New South Wales parliament that disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire had a key to NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian’s north shore home for many years.

In a bombshell question time in the upper house, Latham asked the leader of the house, Don Harwin, whether Maguire had a key and cohabited.

“Given that Daryl Maguire had a key to the premier’s north shore home for many years, and while cohabiting came and went as he liked as recently as last month, doesn’t this demonstrate an intimate personal relationship and the premier’s failure under the ministerial code of conduct to declare all of Daryl Maguire’s business interests,” Latham asked.

Harwin took the question on notice.

Maguire is being investigated by the corruption watchdog over commissions he received from property developers for lobbying for their developments while he was a parliamentarian.

The inquiry heard that from at least 2015, and possibly as early as 2013, he was in “a close personal relationship” with the premier. The pair were caught on phone intercepts where Maguire can be heard talking about the progress of deals and payments he would receive.

In question time, Berejiklian described the assertions made by Latham, and repeated by the opposition, as “factually incorrect”.

“Today I have read things that are practically and factually incorrect,” she said.

“If you respect the integrity process, then let it do its job. I was there as a witness only.”

Berejiklian answered the question despite an intervention by the speaker, Jonathan O’Dea, who said the question raised issues of subjudice and suppression orders by Icac.

Latham’s question came after Berejiklian did a round of media interviews over the weekend and earlier this week, which included revealing she hoped they would marry.

When asked by the Sunday Telegraph if she fell in love with Maguire, with whom she admits she only had public service work in common, the premier stiffened: “I did. That’s all I’ll say. I’m embarrassed now, but I did.”

But she also said he was “wasn’t my boyfriend” and she did not think the relationship was serious enough to warrant introducing Maguire to her family or friends.

Speaking to Ben Fordham on 2GB on Monday morning, the premier said her five-year relationship with Maguire – which she described at the Icac inquiry into his conduct in office as a “close personal relationship” – was not anything of note.

“It wasn’t a normal relationship,” Berejiklian said.

“He wasn’t my boyfriend. He wasn’t anything of note. I certainly hoped it would be ... [but] because I’m not the sort of person who’d been in a long-term relationship, I didn’t want to introduce him to my social circle.”

Berejiklian continued the relationship even after she was forced to seek Maguire’s resignation from parliament in 2018 when the Icac probe became public. She says the relationship ended on 16 August.

Later on Thursday, frontbencher Andrew Constance said the government would refer Latham and the opposition leader, Jodi McKay, to the privileges committee.

“It was a deliberate act by One Nation and Labor to smear the premier under privilege,” he told reporters. “It’s now incumbant upon these two members … to explain their source.”

Constance was asked how questions about Maguire potentially having a key to Berejiklian’s house could amount to “smear” but would only say the pair had to explain where the information came from.

McKay subsequently issued a statement insisting “my questions referred to matters widely reported in the news media prior to question time”.

“I categorically reject his (Constance’s) assertion that I was working with Mark Latham in this matter,” she said. “I have always maintained the premier knew what Daryl Maguire was doing and failed to report it to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.”

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/22/mark-latham-tells...

 

 

Read from top.

Tamed estate: ‘no holes in Gladys’ story’ … give or take 152 moments of amnesia

 

 

By MICHAEL TANNER | On 23 October 2020

The Premier then went on 2GB to discuss her relationship with shock jock Kyle Sandilands. Not a sentence I thought I would ever write. This one doesn’t really require further elaboration.

 

Gladys’ love life

It was a week of glowing coverage for the New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian. The weekend treated us to two front page articles in The Telegraph, and a double page spread on her love life. The salacious details remain up for interpretation – indeed, it is unclear whether either Daryl Maguire or Berejiklian are sure what their relationship entailed. The premier has bounced between saying she hoped the pair might marry, to downplaying the relationship, and stating that he was nothing of note.

The ABC hopped on board on Monday night on 7.30, with Leigh Sales discussing the scandal with Samantha Maiden (news.com.au) and Caroline Overington (The Australian). Overington claimed it was “mortifying what she’s had to go through”, that there are “no holes in the story left to answer”, and that there was “no harm done to anyone”. One might think the 152 (give or take) moments of amnesia that Berejiklian had apparently suffered while giving testimony to ICAC could constitute holes in the story.

The Premier then went on 2GB to discuss her relationship with shock jock Kyle Sandilands. Not a sentence I thought I would ever write. This one doesn’t really require further elaboration.

Foreign elections 

Sky News and The Australian took great pleasure in covering foreign elections. The Australian described Jacinda Ardern’s landslide election victory as “Danger across the ditch” and the Kiwi prime minister as “incompetent”.

Sky News focused more on the United States. Much has been made of an article from a New York tabloid, the New York Post, which appeared to suggest links between Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and Ukrainian businessmen.

What’s this? A tabloid doing investigative work? If only. The credibility of the story fell apart quickly – well, right at the beginning. The emails came from a laptop dropped at a computer repair store in Delaware by someone who could have been Hunter Biden, but could also, quite easily, have been someone else. The only other clue to the man’s identity was a sticker from the Beau Biden foundation.

Donald Trump’s sidekick, Rudy Giuliani, was the purveyor of the news. Unfortunately he had trouble finding an outlet willing to run the story in the way he hoped: ‘either nobody else would take it, or if they took it, they would spend all the time they could to try to contradict it before they put it out’. I think that’s called journalism. Even Fox News was unwilling to publish it.

The Post eventually took it, but faced another hurdle. Several journalists were unwilling to attach their bylines to the story, describing it as “flimsy”, that it failed to “meet … journalistic standards”, and that it “should not have been published”. This coming from a tabloid.

Once the Post had published the news, Fox News – having just rejected the story – wasted no time in amplifying it to maximum capacity.

Twitter and Facebook censored the story, citing concerns over potential hacking and inauthentic content. This caused an uproar among some parts of the Australian media.

Paul Murray, on Sky After Dark, claimed that the left-wing press ignored the story and “their mates in big tech did the hard work for them”.

Sky News invited Steve Bannon – former Trump chief strategist – for a 20-minute interview with Sharri Markson to discuss the emails and the censorship. They did not mention that Bannon is under investigation for wire fraud and money laundering. Bannon has also been quoted as saying “The Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”

On Sunrise, Markson further described the censorship as the “end of the tradition of free speech, a free press”, and described the media as akin to the “state media in China”.

Greg Sheridan at The Australian appeared the most unhappy with Twitter’s censorship. He described it as a “grotesque decision” and the “most shocking breach of democratic norms the US has seen in decades”, a sign of “authoritarianism”.

In another breach of democratic norms, Trump has repeatedly refused to state he will accept the election results and guarantee a peaceful transfer of power should he lose. Now that’s what I call authoritarianism.

What’s more

The Australian’s Adam Creighton ran out of fingers and toes to count in claiming:

It’s unclear where The Australian sourced the information it states as fact. The best primary research – from the US Centres for Disease Control – suggests that the flu pandemics of the late 50s and 60s each killed about 1-1.1 million people. Wikipedia provides a range of 1-4 million for the 1957-58 pandemic, but this upper limit is unsupported by any actual data. There are currently over a million recorded deaths in the world due to Covid-19, but some models estimate the count may be twice as high, and the pandemic is showing no signs of abating.

Also writing for The Australian, Joe Kelly and Remy Varga flaunted their slightly more impressive arithmetic, digging in behind Josh Frydenberg as his spat with Daniel Andrews continued. Referring to Frydenberg, they made the astute observation that:

Yes, Frydenberg received more votes in a federal election than Andrews in a state election. Missing from the article was that the fact that Andrews’ tally represents 57% of the popular vote in his electorate, with an 8% swing to him from the previous election. Frydenberg’s reflects just 49% of the popular vote, an 8% swing against him from previous years.

The Australian described what Victorians in lockdown were experiencing as “torture”.

 

 

Read more:

https://johnmenadue.com/tamed-estate-no-holes-in-gladys-story-give-or-ta...

 

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See also:

 

hope and change — again— versus the crazy uncle... if things were as simple as "hockey"...

 

"the big guy"...

 

the smell of US gassy desperation...

 

nothing to see in a country of people raised on big bird, marvel comics and the simpsons...

 

behold, here comes mungo calling the spade a shovel...

 

"I've never called Trump an idiot"...

 

trump versus the world: totalitarianism versus authoritarianism...

 

the art of deception...

 

a convertible-loving average joe for an average middle-of-the-road, full-blown russian-hating, president...

 

"if the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money"...

 

woo hoo!...

 

biden's sacrifice...

 

etc...

 

https://www.les-crises.fr/bande-annonce-chokine-contre-attaque-notre-int...

 

 

Read from top.

 

"Much has been made of an article from a New York tabloid, the New York Post, which appeared to suggest links between Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and Ukrainian businessmen.

What’s this? A tabloid doing investigative work? If only. The credibility of the story fell apart quickly" could be anmesia from MICHAEL TANNER...

 

Uncle Rupe knows what he is doing, despite his old age... Read the Gus links above...

 

 

 

Darylgate: a Federal matter as well

 

 

By ALISON BROINOWSKI | On 23 October 2020

A week is a short time in politics. In less than that time, an affair emerged that had lasted five years if you believe Gladys, or seven if you believe Daryl.

‘Hand on heart’ was the Premier’s unfortunate way of swearing how innocent, private, and impermanent her affair was with a Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly. Wherever their hands were, it was a long time before Gladys Berejiklian showed hers and before Daryl Maguire took his out of the public purse. The more about the tawdry tale is dug up, the more of that vulgar sort could and will be said.

Many wronged women have empathised with Berejiklian, and others have rejoiced in her having a bit on the side. At the start, years before her recent appeal to the sisterhood on daytime tv, she used to stress that being a woman premier was irrelevant: it was about being the best for the job. So it is, and that means both on and off the job. Privacy isn’t an excuse, either at State or Federal levels.

Let’s take State first. Berejiklian was liked by NSW punters, because she was a hard worker, she got things done – like having abortion decriminalised – she was there during the bushfires and the pandemic, and she wasn’t on the take and into cover-ups, like some of her predecessors. Now people have begun to take another look.

Voters remember the cracked and demolished Federation houses in Haberfield which were victims of her WestConnex. The cracked and uninhabitable Opal Tower whose residents were ripped off by dodgy certifiers and sub-standard builders. Other apartment blocks whose cheap, flammable cladding could ignite another Grenfell Tower inferno. The light rail line up George Street, completed late and way over budget, which holds up traffic with trams that are twice as long as necessary. The demolished stadium in Moore Park, whose twin was only saved by public outrage. The ‘Ruby Princess’ debacle, with confusion and blame-shifting as bad as Victoria’s. Donations to community organisations in Liberal electorates, bigger than the Federal ‘sports rorts’ over which a Coalition minister lost her job. The second Crown Casino, Parker’s defiant one-finger gesture under construction at Barangaroo. Sidelining the Minister for Planning in her own favour. Facing down the Nationals’ John Barilaro over koala habitat, only to cave in to allow land clearing, coal-seam gas mining, and logging in old-growth forests. And failure to properly fund ICAC, the nemesis of Liberal premiers past.

Even had NSW Liberals seen Darylgate coming, they might have had difficulty in discreetly finding a successor to Berejiklian. Andrew Constance earned public regard during the bushfires, but lost it when he resigned, and then briefly stood for the Federal seat of Eden-Monaro. Dominic Perrotet would be a logical choice, but for his mismanagement of icare and the presence of mysterious American American right-wing activist Edward Yap and an un-named other, both funded by icare, in his office. Don Harwin lost his job for breaking quarantine rules by going to his Pearl Beach house. To Brad Hazzard fell the thankless job of managing the pandemic, which he did. But picky voters may not want to exchange Berejiklian for anyone old, male, or stale. What a difference a few weeks can make to cocks of the walk! Labor Opposition leader Jodi McKay and her colleagues are working on making the Coalition in NSW into a feather duster.

But Darylgate has Federal dimensions too. After claiming Sam Dastyari‘s scalp over Chinese influence, the Coalition may see its ‘foreign agents’ legislation applied to one or both of its own: Maguire and Berejiklian. Maguire’ cash for visas operation, run from his Parliamentary office, broke Federal law, and the implications may reach beyond Berejiklian to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Immigration Minister David Coleman. Maguire’s role in the over-priced sale of land bordering the Badgerys Creek airport site is a Federal matter, and whether Berejiklian chose to hear about it or not, the Premier evidently realised what was involved. Whether or not Maguire got Berejiklian to use her influence with Ministers in Canberra, or with the Prime Minister, over the sale, is one among many questions we need answered.

As well, who knew what about Darylgate and when did they know it? It defies belief that for five or seven years the affair between Berejiklian and Maguire was a secret to all but themselves. Drivers, security staff, police, and officials are not blind, deaf, or dumb, in Sydney, Wagga or anywhere else. Politicians make it their business to know what their leaders and rivals are up to, night and day. That’s the job of the media too. So who imposed the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ rule on all of them?

Decades ago, the press and politicians had a gentlemens’ (sic) agreement that their private lives were their own and off limits. But that private/public wall of silence has long been breached, and governments, hyper-vigilant about threats to ‘national security’, are now delving into everything. The nasty suspicion arises that five or seven years of ‘privacy’ were somehow imposed by Berejiklian herself, whether explicitly or implicitly. If so, that only magnifies her problem: who did she have to appease in exchange for silence? Did that expose her to blackmail? As the Darylgate whirlpool spreads, more than the ex-lovers may risk getting sucked into it.

For now, Berejiklian must be hoping for some distraction which may take the heat off for a while. But when the ICAC inquiry’s findings come out, her time as Premier may be over.

Dr Alison Broinowski AM is an author, former diplomat and academic.

 

Read more:

https://johnmenadue.com/__trashed-71/#more-54706

 

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I don't know if this www promotion was planned before or after the thing, nor if the premier is aware her picture is being possibly used by private enterprise to sell you the sunshine energy... But apparently you can claim a "new" $3700 rebate on your new solar panel sytem if you answer a 30 second quiz. See if you qualify:

 

 

 

No restriction on your location: Labor or Liberal on this one. Read from top.

 

The new president of the New South Wales Upper House has been expelled from the Liberal Party after he nominated for the position against the Premier's pick.

Key points:

• Natasha Maclaren-Jones did not have majority support of Upper House members when she assumed the president's chair
• The Opposition and some crossbench MPs came together to remove Ms Maclaren-Jones from the chair 90 minutes later and install Matthew Mason-Cox (23-18) 
• Gladys Berejiklian welcomed Mr Mason-Cox's expulsion after the vote, saying he breached party rules

Liberal MP Matthew Mason-Cox secured the votes of the Opposition and some members of the crossbench to be elected to the role of president, which oversees the Upper House.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had wanted Natasha Maclaren-Jones to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Liberal MP John Ajaka from parliament. 

"I just don't get it," Ms Berejiklian said.

"I just wonder why Labor and the Greens thought it was OK to support a Liberal male over a Liberal female."

Mr Mason-Cox nominated for the position after there were extraordinary scenes in the Upper House.

On Tuesday night, Ms Maclaren-Jones claimed the seat of president in the chamber without the majority support of Upper House members.

 

The Upper House had been in deadlock over the election of a president and the government had stopped the house from sitting for almost three days. 

There had been two previous votes on the position, but Ms Maclaren-Jones had failed to get the majority of votes after some crossbench members abstained.

Ms Maclaren-Jones's decision to assume the chair enraged Labor.

"The government hasn't allowed us to sit because they're working out how they can weasel their way through," Labor MP Penny Sharpe said in the chamber last night.

"To get to this particular point where we've had someone marched into the chair in like a mini-coup."

The government claimed Ms Maclaren-Jones was the rightful president because she had secured the most votes, despite not reaching a majority.

During the Upper House proceedings, the government also accused Labor and the Greens of trying to block a woman from a leadership position.

"When history writes this page, the shame will be on those who have sought to remove a woman nominated for this job," Liberal minister Damien Tudehope said.

But the Greens denied this was about gender, saying Ms Maclaren-Jones was not right for the job because she would be too tied to the Premier.

"How dare they pretend this is about breaking a glass ceiling that the government does nothing to address in any other context," Greens MP Abigail Boyd said.

But not every Liberal agreed with Ms Maclaren-Jones claiming the chair.

"I personally do not support the tactics that the government employed tonight," Liberal MP Catherine Cusack said.

"I have no clue to what people were thinking with that strategy which was unsustainable and inconsistent with the dignity of this house." 

A vote removed Ms Maclaren-Jones from the position within 90 minutes.

She then ran against Matthew Mason-Cox and lost 23 votes to 18.

The Premier has welcomed the expulsion of Mr Mason-Cox from the Liberal Party. 

"There is party discipline and party rules people have to follow," she said.

"He clearly breached those."

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-05/nsw-upper-house-president-matthew-mason-cox-expelled/100118400

 

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assange2

The significance of the findings against Gladys Berejiklian shouldn’t be lost, even if fallout and political impacts appear minimal.

The former premier Gladys Berejiklian has already fallen on her sword.

She's out of the public eye with a job as a senior executive at Optus.

And Optus has released a statement saying the corruption findings pre-date her time at the telco and won't comment further.

The Coalition is also no longer in power, so it's not a reflection of the inner workings of the current government.

The findings though, offer a broader assessment of how elected representatives manage conflicts of interest and in Ms Berejiklian's case, how she handled her secret relationship with the then Wagga Wagga MP, Daryl Maguire.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-30/nsw-icac-gladys-berejiklian-findings-/102543270

 

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