The Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into Gladys Berejiklian has heard her former deputy John Barilaro thought her secret boyfriend Daryl Maguire was 'a pain in the a**e'.
Mr Barilaro told ICAC that if he had known about the clandestine relationship between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire, a controversial shooting centre funding proposal from the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) could have been handled differently.
Ms Berejiklian's years-long secret affair with the former Liberal MP was not revealed until a year ago when ICAC was investigating Mr Maguire.
The shooting centre was to be located in Mr Maguire's former electorate of Wagga Wagga and he was a keen backer of it getting state funding of $5.5million.
'It's very possible because of the conflict that we would have managed it differently,' said Mr Barilaro.
Gladys Berejiklian prepares to leave her home for a coffee meeting with the former head of the Rural Fire Service Shane Fitzsimmons and his wife Lisa
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro (left) arrives at the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in Sydney on Monday
The ICAC is investigating if Ms Berejiklian was 'liable to allow or encourage the occurrence of corrupt conduct' by Mr Maguire, with whom she was in a 'close personal relationship' between 2015 and 2018.
It's also looking into whether she 'exercised her official functions dishonestly or partially' by not reporting any reasonable suspicions about Mr Maguire to the ICAC.
Earlier on Monday, the former NSW premier was pictured having coffee with respected former Rural Fire Service head Shane Fitzsimmons and his wife just a few hundred metres away from where the ICAC hearings were under way.
Ms Berejiklian struck up a strong bond with Mr Fitzsimmons during Sydney's 'summer from hell' in 2019-2020 and made time for a coffee with her former colleague as the ICAC probe that saw her resign as premier entered its second week.
Just a few hundred metres away from their coffee date, counsel for ICAC Scott Robertson was asking Mr Barilaro about Mr Maguire's advocacy for projects in his electorate.
'I would say he was a pain in the a**e … (like) a dog with a bone,' he said.
Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured right) on Monday morning in Sydney with former Rural Fire Service head Shane Fitzsimmons (with back to camera) and his wife Lisa
Gladys Berejiklian's former secret boyfriend Daryl Maguire was called 'a pain in the arse … (like) a dog with a bone,' in evidence given by former deputy premier John Barilaro to ICAC on Monday
Mr Barilaro joined cabinet's expenditure review committee (ERC) in November 2016 after he became leader of the NSW National Party and deputy premier.
Ms Berejiklian was then the state treasurer and chair of the ERC, which was considering the ACTA funding request.
Mr Barilaro agreed with Mr Robertson that Ms Berejiklian's support for putting the ACTA application on the ERC agenda indicated she supported it.
Mr Barilaro said that if the relationship between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire was known at the time, her cabinet colleagues would have expected the 'treasurer would have excused herself from the debate'.
It was disclosed to the commission that he said in his private hearing that if the relationship had been known 'I would not have supported the agenda item, I believe my colleagues would not have supported the agenda item.'
Mr Barilaro said he first became aware the ACTA was looking for funding was when it appeared on the ERC agenda in December 2016. It was the 'third or the fourth' ERC meeting he had attended.
Mr Robertson asked Mr Barilaro if any one had lobbied him about the ACTA proposal. 'Not that I can recall,' Mr Barilaro replied.
Mr Barilaro became the minister responsible for administrative details, such as the finalisation of a business case, for the ACTA project.
An updated business case was prepared by an external company in
