“It would have been more accurate to say that she confirmed that she was satisfied with the proposed projects. Because the truth is, she did not approve any payment under the scholarship program, ”said Ms. Lau.
She said it was actually the job of the head of the local government office, Tim Hurst, to approve the funding, a claim that Mr. Hurst had previously contradicted in his own evidence prior to the investigation.
Ms Berejiklian on Thursday distanced herself from the program launched in 2016 by the Baird government to fund merged councils by stating that she had not signed them.
Ms Berejiklian’s former chief of staff, Sarah Cruickshank, who testified on allegations of wrongdoing against Mr Maguire at an independent anti-corruption Commission hearing earlier this month, was also facing the House of Lords investigation.
Speaking to Ms. Cruickshank towards the end of the morning hearing, Labor’s Courtney Houssos said, “Wagga electorate received six awards from the Prime Minister’s Discretionary Fund totaling $ 40,536 in 2017-18.”
“Are you aware of the Prime Minister’s relationship with Daryl Maguire prior to approving these funds?” Ms. Houssos asked, to which Ms. Cruickshank replied, “No, I am not.”
Ms. Cruickshank went on to qualify that she may not necessarily have been aware of any disclosures, as she believed they could be addressed directly to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Loading
Ms Cruickshank had previously confirmed at the hearing that the fund was being managed at the Prime Minister’s discretion.
Labor’s John Graham told Ms. Cruickshank that a statement should have been made if a conflict of interest had arisen.
Ms. Cruickshank replied that she was not sure whether this was a requirement for the discretionary fund or not, but it sounded “plausible”.
There’s more to come
Angus Thompson is an Urban Affairs reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Mostly seen in National
Loading
These were the details of the news Gladys Berejiklian gave Daryl Maguire’s constituency $ 40,000 from the Discretionary... for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at de24.news and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
