The process behind a multi-million dollar grant for a regional NSW sporting facility - supported by Gladys Berejiklian and her "pain in the arse" secret boyfriend - was unusual in several ways, former deputy premier John Barilaro has told the state's corruption watchdog.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian breached public trust when she supported projects proposed by former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire, with whom she was in a clandestine relationship.
The hearings centred around a multi-million dollar upgrade to the Wagga Wagga Clay Target Club championed by Mr Maguire.
As treasurer in 2016, Ms Berejiklian controlled the agenda for the Expenditure Review Committee. ICAC has heard she was perceived as instrumental to the decision to revisit a business case that found the shooting facility proposal lacked merit.
Mr Barilaro - who was the minister responsible for the fund from which the money was to be drawn - began giving evidence on Monday, as the probe entered its second week.
He told the inquiry he had only attended a handful of ERC meetings when the funding was discussed, but with years of experience now under his belt, in hindsight found elements of the process in securing the $5.5 million grant "unusual".
Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian (right) and former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire (left). Source: AAP
The project was originally pitched to the ERC without a clear source of funding and was a stand-alone item on the agenda despite being worth much less than the proposals usually considered by the committee.
The "expediency" of the process was also uncommon, he said.
Ms Berejiklian had indicated to him she supported the project and intermittently asked for updates.
So did Mr Maguire, who Mr Barilaro described as a "pain in the arse" and a "dog with a bone" in his advocacy for projects in his electorate.
Mr Barilaro said he had no clue the pair were in a relationship.
If he - or anyone else - had known, the proposal would definitely have been handled in different way, he said.
"(We) would have done everything differently," he said.
"The way that the item would have been debated, who would have been in attendance ... (there would have been) another approach in dealing with what would be a perceived conflict of interest."
"I don't believe it would have ended up on the ERC agenda in the first instance."
Ms Berejiklian had plenty of opportunity to declare any conflict.
"Agenda item one is always the declaration of any conflicts of interest," he said.
Mr Barilaro said he believed the project had been funded appropriately but a declaration of a conflict of interest from Ms Berejiklian would have protected all ERC members from any allegations it acted improperly.
The ICAC inquiry last week heard bureaucrats in the NSW Office of Sport also found the process unusual.
They were sceptical about the project when Mr Maguire put it forward in 2012 and then again in 2016, dismissing it as "low priority".
But ICAC has heard the office was - without explanation - given a single day to prepare a document then-sports minister Stuart Ayres could take to the ERC to advocate for the project to be funded.
A memo tendered in evidence shows an adviser to then-premier Mike Baird speculating that Mr Ayres and then-treasurer Ms Berejiklian had done a "sweetheart deal" with Mr Maguire.
Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire will give evidence this week after a raft of current and former politicians and public servants faced public hearings last week.
Mr Ayres, the new deputy leader of the NSW Liberals, testified on Friday he did not know of the secret relationship, echoing evidence given on Wednesday by former premier Mike Baird, who said he was "incredulous" to learn of the relationship and that it "should have been disclosed".
Ms Berejiklian stepped down as premier on 1 October, when ICAC announced it would be holding the public hearings examining her conduct.
She denies any wrongdoing.
