Gladys Berejiklian has opened The Armenian Film Festival Australia (AFFA) in style
By Marta Jary For Daily Mail Australia
Gladys Berejiklian has opened The Armenian Film Festival Australia (AFFA) in style.
The former Premier of New South Wales posed with organizers at the event at Event Cinemas Top Ryde in Sydney on Saturday night.
The 53-year-old opted for a patterned blue dress shirt underneath a fitted deep blue blazer in a velvet fabric
She added a pair of trousers in the same design, and had on a pair of low Mary Jane heels.
Gladys carried a quilted leather purse and wore a pair of dainty earrings with a peal accent.
For makeup, the politician opted for a rosy, glowing look with a dark pink lipstick and wore her brunette locks in a slick bob.
It comes after Berejiklian lost a high-stakes court bid to overturn findings she acted corruptly in a major blow to the former premier’s reputation and win for the NSW integrity watchdog.
Chief Justice Andrew Bell delivered the decision last month, maintaining findings the former state Liberal leader breached public trust through her covert romance with disgraced party colleague Daryl Maguire.
Gladys was 43 and still never tasted a real romance – but then she met a dodgy man who would ruin her life. This is their secret love story and how it led to the REAL man of her dreams
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption delivered a bombshell report in June 2023 that concluded Ms Berejiklian engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct’ because of the undisclosed relationship.
ICAC deemed the corrupt conduct included her sitting on a cabinet committee tasked with considering millions of dollars worth of funding arrangements pushed by Maguire for his Wagga Wagga electorate.
During Berejiklian’s NSW Court of Appeal bid, her barrister Bret Walker SC argued the personal relationships of ministers did not automatically equate to corruption.
But ICAC barrister Stephen Free SC argued there was a rational foundation for finding Berejiklian had been influenced by her desire to maintain or advance her relationship with Maguire.
While the ex-premier claimed she treated Maguire like any other MP, Mr Free told the court her vision for their future – including marriage, children and life after politics – meant she had a special interest in him.
Between 2016 and 2018, as treasurer and then premier, Berejiklian was involved in approving or supporting allocations of $5.5 million for the Wagga-based Australian Clay Target Association and $10 million for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music.
ICAC said her deliberate failure to disclose the relationship in those circumstances was ‘willful’ and unjustified.
Mr Walker labelled those findings ‘illogical’ as the watchdog had also deemed there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.
He argued former judge Ruth McColl, who was appointed assistant commissioner to help with the inquiry, did not have the authority to prepare the ICAC report.
While Ms McColl’s appointment as assistant commissioner expired in October 2022, she was kept on as a consultant for a further eight months before the report was published.
