After two months hearing that ICAC ends careers before findings are made public, Gladys Berejiklian might be in federal cabinet before ICAC's findings are made public.
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Berejiklian's Teflon coating, her persistent popularity, makes backing her simply a numbers game.
But in a colder political calculation, it also makes her the perfect human shield for a government fighting the idea of a federal ICAC with teeth.
The Prime Minister is seizing the opportunity. "The way that Gladys Berejiklian has been treated has been shameful ... Anthony Albanese thought that was the right thing to do," he said on Monday.
Explicitly linking a popular Premier to Labor's push for a federal ICAC comes with risk. An adverse finding - against candidate, MP, or even Minister Berejiklian - would be another hit to the government's integrity.
But Morrison is already moving to undermine whatever ICAC comes back with; Berejiklian was "put in a position" of having to resign by the watchdog, not her own ministerial standards.
There are no suggestions of criminality, he stressed, without mentioning a probe into whether she breached the public trust.
That would be Daryl Maguire, with whom Berejiklian maintained a secret relationship despite sacking him for corruption. Calls between the pair aired by ICAC showed her promising to "throw money" at Wagga, and telling Maguire she didn't "need to know" about his schemes.
"What was that about? Was that about shaming Gladys Berejiklian?" Morrison asked.
READ MORE NEWS: Berejiklian's fall brings ICAC into the spotlight
The answer, as the Prime Minister well knows, is no.
But he is following a blueprint used by Berejiklian herself a year ago, when she skirted through by running the Bad Boyfriend Defence.
Days after telling ICAC the relationship wasn't serious enough to disclose, she was on the front cover of a weekend tabloid declaring she loved and hoped to marry Maguire. The most powerful woman in NSW was left feeling "silly" after trusting the wrong person.
We've all been there, right?
But if that defence proves persuasive enough, Anthony Albanese could be another seat from moving into The Lodge.
And his response to Berejiklian potentially joining the fray, unusually muted for a man who delights in questioning the government's integrity, suggests he is wary.
He wouldn't comment on ICAC proceedings. We shouldn't "obsess" over her running. One individual can't fix a bad government, anyway.
In more than 300 words, he didn't name Berejiklian once.
Both leaders seem to agree: make a federal ICAC about Unlucky-in-Love Gladys, and it just might sink.
Finn McHugh
Finn McHugh has been federal political reporter for The Canberra Times since July 2021. He joined the Canberra Press Gallery in 2019 where he was executive producer of Sky News's AM Agenda, before joining NCA NewsWire as a federal political reporter. He has previously interned at the Kuwait Times.
Finn McHugh has been federal political reporter for The Canberra Times since July 2021. He joined the Canberra Press Gallery in 2019 where he was executive producer of Sky News's AM Agenda, before joining NCA NewsWire as a federal political reporter. He has previously interned at the Kuwait Times.
