SYDNEY – The leader of Australia’s most populous state resigned today amid a corruption investigation, leaving Sydneysiders – deep in months of lockdown – without a political leader.
New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she will leave Parliament after an anti-corruption body announced an inquiry into allegations against her.
“My resignation as premier could not occur at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control,” she told the media here.
“I do not want to be a distraction from what should be the focus of the state government during this pandemic, which is the well-being of our citizens. It always has been, and always will be.”
Berejiklian has been one of the most prominent faces of Australia’s Covid-19 response, fronting cameras daily as the federal government was largely sidelined.
A state corruption watchdog is investigating allegations including whether she favoured an ex-boyfriend, then an MP, in the awarding of grants in his constituency.
The projects included funding for the Australian Clay Target Association and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Wagga Wagga, a small NSW town.
Berejiklian denied the allegations, and said the inquiry into the events that occurred between 2012 and 2018 came “in the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the state’s history”.
Since late June, Sydney’s over five million residents have been under stay-at-home orders, with plans to end the lockdown slated for October 11.
Daily Covid-19 infections have begun to decline from a peak earlier this year, but the state is still reporting over 800 a day.
The conservative Berejiklian helmed the state for seven years, including through Australia’s worst bushfire season and the entirety of the pandemic.
Her approval ratings rocketed late last year as NSW managed to avoid the ravages of the first virus wave, but recent opinion polls saw her support dip after the arrival of the Delta variant and spiralling lockdowns.
Her replacement will be decided by members of the ruling Liberal Party. – AFP, October 1, 2021
