1. Gladys Berejiklian is an Australian businesswoman and former politician who served as the 45th premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2021.
48 Facts About Gladys Berejiklian
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Gladys Berejiklian became a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly after winning the electoral district of Willoughby in the 2003 state election.
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Gladys Berejiklian was given the roles of Treasurer and Minister for Industrial Relations in the second Baird government, and Minister for Transport in the O'Farrell and first Baird governments.
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Gladys Berejiklian was the deputy leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party between 2014 and 2017.
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Gladys Berejiklian assumed the role of premier after Mike Baird's resignation in January 2017.
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Gladys Berejiklian was re-elected after winning the 2019 state election.
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Gladys Berejiklian stayed on as premier until a replacement was elected at a party room meeting, held on 5 October 2021.
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In 2023 ICAC findings stated that Gladys Berejiklian engaged in "serious corrupt conduct" by refusing to report Maguire's corrupt statements to her, but did not recommend criminal charges against her as ICAC evidence is not admissible in criminal court due to the loss of the right to silence within hearings.
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Gladys Berejiklian was born in Manly Hospital, Sydney, the eldest of three daughters born to Armenian parents, Krikor and Arsha.
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Gladys Berejiklian's grandparents were orphaned by Turkish soldiers in the Armenian genocide in 1915 and her father was born in Aleppo, Syria, where she still has family.
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Gladys Berejiklian spoke only Armenian until she was five years old, when she began learning English.
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Gladys Berejiklian has remained involved in the Armenian-Australian community, serving a term on the Armenian National Committee of Australia.
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Gladys Berejiklian attended North Ryde High School, which became Peter Board High School from 1986, a public, co-educational school in North Ryde.
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Gladys Berejiklian was a member of Girl Guides and continues to support the organisation.
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Gladys Berejiklian has a Bachelor of Arts and a graduate diploma in international studies from the University of Sydney and a Masters in Commerce from the University of New South Wales.
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Gladys Berejiklian joined the Liberal Party in 1993 and was president of the New South Wales Young Liberals from 1997 to 1998, being the third female president in its history.
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Gladys Berejiklian served as a Delegate to State Council, Urban Representative of the NSW Liberal Party State Executive, Campaign Director for State seat of Willoughby and Chair of Convention Committee.
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Gladys Berejiklian won Liberal preselection for Willoughby in 2003 when former Opposition Leader Peter Collins, who had represented the Willoughby area since 1981, decided to retire.
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Ultimately, Gladys Berejiklian won by 144 votes, with the Liberals suffering a swing of 10.9 points.
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However, Gladys Berejiklian easily saw off a rematch with Reilly after picking up a healthy swing of 14.5 points, enough to revert Willoughby to its traditional status as a comfortably safe Liberal seat.
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Gladys Berejiklian joined the front bench in 2005 as Shadow Minister for Mental Health and was appointed to the opposition front bench portfolio of Transport by Peter Debnam in 2006.
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Gladys Berejiklian restructured the railway system from July 2013 with RailCorp and its CityRail and CountryLink brands replaced by Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink.
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On 17 April 2014, Mike Baird was elected Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, and hence Premier, following O'Farrell's resignation, with Gladys Berejiklian elected as Baird's deputy.
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Gladys Berejiklian was appointed as Treasurer of New South Wales and Minister for Industrial Relations following a cabinet reshuffle announced on 1 April 2015 by Premier Baird, after the 2015 state election.
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Gladys Berejiklian oversaw the part-privatisation of the state's electricity network.
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Gladys Berejiklian was duly sworn in as Premier later that day, becoming the second woman to hold the post.
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Gladys Berejiklian led the Coalition into the 2019 state election, becoming the third woman to take a major party into an election in the state.
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In September 2019, Gladys Berejiklian expressed support for the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill, a private member's bill aimed to decriminalise abortion in New South Wales.
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Gladys Berejiklian allowed a conscience vote on the bill in her party.
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Three of these parliamentarians, MP Tanya Davies and Legislative Council members Matthew Mason-Cox and Lou Amato, "expressed dissatisfaction with Gladys Berejiklian's handling of the bill".
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On 16 September 2019, the trio announced they would hold a party leadership spill motion against Gladys Berejiklian the following day.
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Senior ministers, including conservative ministers who opposed the bill, backed Gladys Berejiklian and condemned the actions of the trio.
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In October 2020, as part of her evidence to an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry, Gladys Berejiklian admitted that she had been in a "close personal relationship" with Daryl Maguire from 2015 until August 2020.
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In June 2021, Gladys Berejiklian resisted calls to enact a lockdown in Sydney, which, according to some media outlets, resulted in wide community transmission and over 20,000 cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the community.
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Gladys Berejiklian faced criticism when she stopped attending daily press briefings as COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths were predicted to peak.
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On 1 October 2021, New South Wales' ICAC announced an investigation into whether Gladys Berejiklian breached public trust or encouraged corrupt behaviour during her relationship with Daryl Maguire.
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Gladys Berejiklian's supporters started petitions to keep her as premier, with one receiving nearly 40,000 signatures in 48 hours and eventually totalling more than 70,000 names.
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Gladys Berejiklian stayed on as Premier until her treasurer Dominic Perrottet was elected as party leader and Premier at a party room meeting on 5 October 2021.
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Gladys Berejiklian later announced she would be "spending her last days in office addressing local concerns" before officially resigning as member of the Legislative Assembly on 30 December 2021.
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In December 2021, after speculation that she might contest in the 2022 federal election, Gladys Berejiklian confirmed that she would instead work in the private sector and looked forward to "a much less public life".
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On 29 June 2023, the ICAC found that Gladys Berejiklian had engaged in "serious corrupt conduct".
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In September 2023, Gladys Berejiklian lodged legal action against ICAC, seeking judicial review of their findings against her.
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The report's delayed release, along with McGuire's actions and the report's findings, were criticised by some members of the New South Wales Liberal Party, who gave their support to Gladys Berejiklian, including Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, who held a press conference on the matter.
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Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton defended Gladys Berejiklian, saying she was "not corrupt" but was engaged in a bad relationship.
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Gladys Berejiklian's proposed lawsuit against ICAC was backed by federal Nationals leader David Littleproud and Kean.
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In February 2022, Gladys Berejiklian was appointed to the executive board of telecommunications company Optus, in the newly created role of Managing Director, Enterprise, Business and Institutional.
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Gladys Berejiklian was a member of the moderate faction of the Liberal Party and supports the Australian republican movement.
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Gladys Berejiklian is a supporter of NRL club the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.