Analysis

Election hopes sink as Perrottet faces jam over Barilaro job

Questions over the former deputy premier’s appointment to a US trade post continue to dog the premier two months after the announcement. He can’t afford the distraction any longer.

Samantha HutchinsonNational reporter

Aug 2, 2022 – 6.26pm

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This was not the homecoming Dominic Perrottet was hoping for. After his first regional trade mission as premier, Perrottet returned to Sydney to find two bushfires burning on his doorstep – including one with the potential to torch the party’s election hopes.

An outcry over a decision to appoint John Barilaro to a prized US trade post that had dogged his trip was intensifying as new documents showed MPs had weighed in on the hiring process.

Samantha Hutchinson is the AFR's National Reporter. Most recently, she was CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Before that, she covered Victorian and NSW politics and business for The Australian, the AFR and BRW Magazine.