An anti-corruption inquiry has heard details of how then Wagga MP Daryl Maguire instructed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian start using 'untraceable' mobile communications before a 2018 public hearing.
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On July 9, 2018, four days before Mr Maguire was due to appear at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) hearing that ended his political career, Mr Maguire sent SMS texts to Ms Berejiklian.
One message at 7:48pm was a link to the WeChat messaging application and Mr Maguire's account number and another message to "download the app".
Ms Berejiklian responded about 30 minutes later "Ok I'll try! What about [WhatsApp]? That's easy too".
Mr Maguire texted back within minutes, stating "you need to get a private phone" and Ms Berejiklian asked if everything was OK.
Mr Maguire responded that he had "got the buggers on the run. They can read texts but not the little green man, it leaves no trace".
WeChat is a Chinese messaging service with a predominately green logo that would have been more difficult for ICAC to monitor via warrants served to Mr Maguire's mobile provider.
On Monday at ICAC, Ms Berejiklian said Mr Maguire "may have" taken steps to make his messages more difficult to intercept, possibly for privacy reasons, but she "never" obtained a private phone or used WeChat.
"I had no reason to think he had done anything wrong. Clearly I was not concerned as I did none of those things," she said.
Five months prior to Mr Maguire telling Ms Berejiklian to use WeChat, the service was banned from Department of Defence devices due to the Chinese government having access to messages.
ICAC has previously heard that Mr Maguire started using WhatsApp prior to September last year.