Former Wagga MP Daryl Maguire (second from right) with other members of the Wagga Wagga Gun Club (Image: ICAC)

NSW taxpayers paid for an outside consultant to prepare a business case for a $5.5 million grant to the Wagga Wagga gun club at the centre of NSW ICAC investigations, overturning the usual practice that beneficiaries should bear the cost of their own applications.

ICAC heard this morning that in the “vast majority of cases” the government does not pay for a business case for an applicant for public funding, according to Department of Regional NSW deputy secretary Chris Hanger. 

The office of then-NSW deputy premier John Barilaro was heavily involved in the development of the business case for this grant application, Hanger told the hearing. 

Under questioning from counsel assisting Scott Robertson, Hanger said that former Barilaro staffer Peter Minucos was a “key contact” and was “heavily involved in the development of the project, in particular the advice back to the consultants … in regards to an addendum to the original business case”. 

Hanger is in the witness box this morning, giving evidence about the way former MP Daryl Maguire’s pet projects were pushed through the system. Barilaro, Hanger and Minucos are not accused of any wrongdoing. ICAC is investigating the circumstances in which this money was given to the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA), along with a $30 million grant to the Riverina Conservatorium of Music, both of which were in Maguire’s electorate. 

Hanger agreed this morning that the bureaucracy was aware that there was political pressure to approve the project, with “a number of indicators that the premier’s office was particularly interested” in the approval of the gun club grant, he said. 

Former premier Gladys Berejiklian told ICAC late last year that she had been in a close relationship with Maguire, who left NSW Parliament following a separate ICAC inquiry in 2018. Berejiklian abruptly resigned two weeks ago, has denied any wrongdoing and will give evidence next week on Thursday and Friday. Maguire is slated to give evidence on Wednesday.

ICAC heard that an urgent proposal for the state government to give money to ACTA came before the state government’s expenditure review committee in December 2016, and the committee signed off on a conditional grant of $5.5 million — conditional to a satisfactory business case being provided.

Hanger’s low-key, measured testimony is a contrast to the appearance of former NSW premier Mike Baird yesterday afternoon. Baird, now the CEO of aged-care provider HammondCare, said he was “incredulous” when he found out Berejiklian and Maguire had been in a “close personal relationship” for several years, and that Maguire was “aggressive” in his approach to requests for funding and was “abusive” towards members of staff and public servants.

“This was not conduct which I supported,” Baird added. 

Asked if Maguire had been treated with respect in the party room, he said there had been “concerns” about him. 

The hearing continues.