Scandal-scarred MP Daryl Maguire agrees to quit NSW Parliament before he’s booted
His resignation has triggered a byelection in the seat of Wagga Wagga. Photo: AAP
Controversial Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire has informed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian he will resign from state parliament following a corruption scandal.
Mr Maguire last week quit the Liberal party and his role as parliamentary secretary under intense pressure after a corruption inquiry heard secret recordings of him discussing potential commissions with a local councillor from property deals with a wealthy Chinese developer.
He will resign some time next week and before Parliament resumes on August 7, after a week of refusing to give up his position.
Earlier this week, acting Opposition Leader Michael Daley announced Labor would move a a motion under standing order 254 if Mr Maguire did not resign by the time Parliament resumes on August 7.
“If he won’t go, we’ll have to make him go,” Mr Daley told reporters on Wednesday.
Ms Berejiklian announced Mr Maguire’s resignation on Saturday afternoon.
“This morning I spoke to Mr Maguire, he advised me of his intention to resign from Parliament before Parliament resumes, I accepted that,” Ms Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
“As frustrating as it is for everybody, it’s the right thing to do,” she said.
“I think the public would not have accepted it, had we held the seat open until March next year. I do not fear a byelection. The people of Wagga should be heard.”
“There will not be a three-cornered contest. The Liberal Party’s held that seat for half a century and the Liberal Party has opened nominations,” she said.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption heard earlier this month secret recordings of telephone conversations in which Mr Maguire was heard boasting about clients with “mega money” to a Canterbury City Councillor at the centre of the investigation.
Mr Maguire resigned as a parliamentary secretary and quit the parliamentary Liberal Party, but on Monday said he’d continue to serve on the crossbench until the next election, as he didn’t want to put taxpayers through the cost of a by-election.
“I won’t resign. I’m not going to resign,” he said on Monday.
“I’ve removed myself from the Liberal Party. I’ve resigned from the party only, but I won’t resign as a member of Parliament.”
The last time a standing order was used to expel an MP “guilty of conduct unworthy of a member of parliament”, has only been used six times in the Parliament’s history, the last time being 1917.
Asked why Mr Maguire had changed his mind on staying until March 2019, Ms Berejiklian said it was a “a matter for him”.
The now-independent MP took leave this week to be with his family following the death of his son-in-law after a short illness.
-with AAP
