You **** One Goat - Gladys Berejiklian's (Near) Fatal Attraction

Poor Gladys is having a shocker of a week.

The largest surprise reported out of Australia has been that she was shagging at all.  Widely known as a bit of a nerdy square, then out comes the revelation she has been slipping an entire affair in with a (sort of) married man who barely scraped in to the Northern Football League compared to her achievements and intellect.  Daryl.  I mean a name like that the bells should have been ringing.

Pre-Covid in March 2020, Gladys was interviewed and let out in retrospect some real clangers.

Ms Berejiklian, the eldest of three sisters, has long fielded curious questions, particularly from other women, about her personal life.  As she puts it, life just had other plans for her.

"I think if an opportunity comes up you grab it. If something happens and you need to make a decision, make it. Had I met the right person? Of course I would be married. But that doesn't happen for everyone at the right time," told Mamamia.

"I've always been very self-aware. I know my shortcomings and what I'm good at. The more honest you are with yourself and the people who are closest to you, the more comfortable you are in doing what you need to do." 

Gladys suffered from what many single heterosexual women do in the workplace in positions of seniority.  Our male counterparts when they lack imagination or energy to find potential partners, simply screw the secretary.  Mission accomplished.  They either end up marrying her or paying her to leave for a better job.  If they make a mistake or error in judgment they usually make it time and time again and get away with it.  The lack of straight men applying to be personal assistants and secretaries makes this impossible for women seeking the services of an underling so they have to look further afield.  Enter Daryl.  Gladys in 2018 actually had to woman up and sack Daryl for his mis-deeds!

Opinion has been divided and intense.  Kyle Sandilands reacted in a "Kyle" way:

“I thought she was a mad lesbian. I didn’t think there would be a man on the scene.”  He added: “I admire the woman greatly for her outstanding job and two, she’s got game, she’s getting a little bit of D. I like that.”

Humourists have had a riot:

NSW’s queer community was shocked to discover that Premier Gladys Berejiklian has until recently been in a relationship with disgraced former Liberal MP, Daryl Maguire, who is a man.  Berejiklian, whose public private life, brusque manner and immaculate bob had led her to be regarded by many as a lesbian icon, has stated that she “stuffed up” by deciding to be straight.

Even her former opponent had something nice to say.

“She’s a smart lady who I think has been punching below her weight with perhaps a much more average guy. I have sympathy for Gladys at the human level,” Mr Shorten said of the NSW Premier.  Stefanovic laughed in response and said: “Bill, you have summed it up perfectly. Everyone in Australia wanted to say it.”

What makes the whole situation more unusual is that the wife knew about this.  Apparently they were husband in wife in name only at the time.

However, there was one person who did know about the relationship – Mr Maguire’s estranged wife Maureen.

“(Of) course she f***ing knew,” her brother Larry ­Salvestro told the Daily Telegraph when they approached him for comment.

Everything about this is so down to earth Australian from the humour and invective right down to the names of the parties. Gladys and Daryl.  The story is so terrible for Gladys it is likely she will survive because it is all just so bad everyone is rather speechless.

Australia so far has had a fairly liberal, comical and grown up reaction to the whole debacle.  Imagine the gotcha journalism in New Zealand if a prudish, otherwise competent and incorruptible senior ranked woman from the centre-right in politics had been involved in such scandal?

Of course the New Zealand lesbian left wing version of this story would never have even rated as a story. The evidence would be suppressed for decades and everyone bringing it up gaslighted as a conspiracy theorist and hounded out of their profession.  Hmmmm.