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.