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Nice little earner: Former NSW minister altered process for trade job before being hired for it

A NSW parliamentary inquiry has heard then-deputy premier John Barilaro altered the selection process for a plum trade job days before he retired as an MP – the same job he subsequently was hired to do.

Jun 29, 2022, updated Jun 29, 2022
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro (right) has withdrawn from a lucrative New York trade post after scrutiny by a parliamentary inquiry. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)

Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro (right) has withdrawn from a lucrative New York trade post after scrutiny by a parliamentary inquiry. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)

The inquiry was told the original candidate for a trade ambassador position in New York – now taken by Barilaro – was given verbal confirmation she had the job.

But the inquiry heard that Investment NSW had to backflip on the offer last year after the state government stepped in to make the position a political appointment.

The inquiry is expected to hear from the ditched candidate, senior Investment NSW bureaucrat Jenny West after being told trade department secretary and Investment NSW boss Amy Brown had to withdraw an initial verbal offer of the job to West last year.

“She was extremely upset about that, understandably so,” Brown said on Wednesday .

The relationship with West, who she did not name in her evidence, then became “irreconcilable” and she was dubbed unsuitable for the position.

The Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner post comes with a $487,000 salary plus a $16,000 cost of living allowance.

Barilaro’s appointment to the lucrative New York post, due to begin on July 12, was announced earlier this month and is being scrutinised by the inquiry.

Controversy over the appointment has dogged the NSW government for nearly two weeks and diverted attention from its big-spending budget.

Premier Dominic Perrottet has given the green light to a separate review into the recruitment process, which he expects within weeks.

“I will look at the recommendations and any action that needs to be taken I will,” he said on Tuesday.

Brown, who reported to Barilaro when he was NSW trade minister, was grilled on how her former boss came to take the position.

A request was made by Barilaro’s office in late September to move the trade commissioner positions from an in-house decision for Investment NSW to one requiring cabinet approval.

This meant Investment NSW was obliged to freeze all existing processes and West’s verbal offer was withdrawn on October 1.

On October 4, Barilaro announced his retirement as an MP.

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He was one of a handful of MPs who flagged their retirement in October following the resignation of then-premier Gladys Berejiklian due to the fallout from her evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Barilaro was offered the job in May and signed the contract earlier this month after a global recruitment process billed to the taxpayer.

The inquiry also heard the NSW government has spent nearly $1 million refurbishing part of the Australian consulate in New York for Barilaro to occupy.

Labor said the trade commissioner posting is important and wants Barilaro booted from the job.

“Every taxpayer needs to know whether this is value for money and whether we’re sending the best person to New York,” Labor’s upper house leader Penny Sharpe said.

Shadow Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said Mr Perrottet misled state parliament last week when he said the first recruitment process did not find a suitable candidate.

“The premier needs to show some leadership and make sure that John Barilaro doesn’t jet off to Manhattan,” he said.

If Barilaro is ousted from the role inside the six-month probationary period, taxpayers will owe him a week’s wages; if he is removed later he may be owed the full three-year service period.

Labor wants to hear from other candidates for the position to review the recruitment process.

 

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