More hearings after Barilaro appointment
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro and a senior public servant will go into mediation over an overseas trade role. Photo: AAP
The NSW parliamentary examination of trade commissioner appointments sparked by former deputy premier John Barilaro’s short-lived overseas role will hear further evidence from other commissioners.
Hearings will resume next week, with UK and Europe Trade and Investment Commissioner Paul Webster scheduled to give evidence on Monday.
UK Agent General and Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner (STIC) to Europe and Israel Stephen Cartwright is scheduled to give evidence on Wednesday.
Mr Barilaro was announced as STIC to the Americas in June, a role he resigned within two weeks, noting it was “not tenable” following the subsequent media and parliamentary scrutiny.
He appeared in August for one day of hearings, but pulled out of a second, citing health issues.
The upper house committee expanded the terms of reference for its inquiry and is now investigating the appointment of all the state’s trade commissioners.
“The upcoming hearings will be an opportunity to hear directly from Mr Webster and Mr Cartwright about their appointments and allow the committee to seek further information and clarify any unanswered questions regarding the circumstances surrounding the STIC appointments,” committee chairwoman Cate Faehrmann said.
Mr Barilaro’s appointment has cost a number of people their jobs and changes in hiring policies.
A review into the bungled appointment was conducted by former NSW Public Service commissioner Graeme Head.
It led to Premier Dominic Perrottet announcing an overhaul of the ministerial code of conduct “to prevent for a period of 18 months a minister from accepting any offer of employment within a public sector agency that reported to them in the previous two years”.
“The process was just flawed from the outset,” he said of Mr Barilaro’s appointment.
Former trade minister Stuart Ayres resigned from multiple cabinet positions and as deputy Liberal leader after a draft of the Head review found he may have breached the ministerial code of conduct.
A subsequent review into the potential breach cleared Mr Ayres but his parliamentary responsibilities remain limited to representing his Penrith electorate.
Former trade department secretary and Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown is no longer working in the public sector after reviews found she had been indirectly influenced by Mr Ayres’s preference for who should get the New York-based role Mr Barilaro was briefly appointed to.
She left with a payout of close to half a million dollars – equivalent to 38 weeks of her salary – a decision made by Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter.
– AAP