Australians were glued to their television screens after Gladys Berejiklian announced her shocked resignation as NSW Prime Minister – but everything may not have been what it seemed.
In the minutes following Ms Berejiklian’s announcement ten days ago, media helicopters broadcast footage of the apparently fallen prime minister spinning home in a white jeep from her office to her house in north Sydney.
Vision seemed to show Ms. Berejiklian pausing in her driveway while a crowd of media gathered outside before the car backed out of the driveway and back into town.
Now it can be revealed that it was a sophisticated fraud – according to a new report, hundreds of thousands of TV viewers actually saw the car as a decoy.
The Australian Media Diary column claimed Monday that the decoy was a clever tactic devised by Ms. Berejiklian’s media director, former Seven News reporter Sean Berry.
Ms. Berejiklian was apparently in a white jeep (pictured) after her resignation when media teams followed her, but it turned out to be a decoy
Former Gladys Berejiklian’s media director Sean Berry (pictured in a Corvette) developed the decoy strategy to avoid the media package
Schapelle Corby did a similar stunt when she returned to Queensland from Bali in 2018 when her guardians used a decoy car to mislead the press.
And in the most famous example of a media helicopter hunt, local US news networks hired seven helicopters to follow a white Ford Bronco with OJ Simpson as it drove on the California freeways in 1994 while 95 million Americans watched.
The revelation that Ms. Berejiklian was using a decoy was described on Twitter as a “child’s waste of time and money” on Monday.
The resignation of the former prime minister was initiated by the NSW anti-corruption agency ICAC. Announce that the guard dog would examine them.
In particular, the ICAC is investigating whether Ms. Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt behavior by her secret ex-boyfriend and former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire between 2012 and 2018.
It will also investigate whether she violated public trust by not reporting suspicions of corrupt behavior.
Mr Maguire admitted participating in a cash-for-visa program and receiving secret commissions for brokering real estate deals. In 2018 he had to resign.
Ms. Berejiklian – who appeared to have cried upon her resignation – denied any wrongdoing and slammed the watchdog for announcing his investigation into her after the state emerged from a four-month Covid lockdown.
“Resigning at this point is against every instinct in my being and something I don’t want to do,” she said.
Ms. Berejiklian has been holding back since her resignation.
She made a brief appearance at her polling station in Northbridge on Wednesday morning to thank the community.
Wearing a mask and flanked by Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman, she collected flowers and cards that were left in front of the door by devastated voters.
The ex-prime minister appeared on Wednesday at her office in Willoughby, flooded with a sea of flowers and cards, to show her support
The now-former prime minister said the messages of support were “very comforting” and promised to read each one of them.
“I want everyone to know that I will read every single card, every single message,” said Ms. Berejiklian.
When asked how she has been since her resignation, the former prime minister said: “Oh, OK, thank you”.
Ms Berejiklian revealed her words in a message to her Liberal Party colleagues read to them on Wednesday by her successor Dominic Perrottet.
“I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone and I want everyone to stand behind Prime Minister Perrottet. I know he will be an excellent leader,” she said.
“Follow the Prime Minister’s words and make sure we get out of this lock as safely as possible.”
Ms. Berejiklian has been Prime Minister since 2017.
The white jeep was parked in front of Ms. Berejiklian’s house on the Lower North Shore before driving off without anyone getting out (picture)
There was talk of her entering federal politics, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressing his support.
“We have a decent selection process in our party and there are many different ways that it could (participate). You don’t have to be in Parliament, ”said Morrison.
Former NSW Secretary of Transportation Andrew Constance also thinks the move is a good one.
“If Glad can be resolved through the public hearing process, whatever these issues are, I think it would be unreal,” Constance told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
“You couldn’t have a harder, more principled Australian politician than Gladys Berejiklian.