Perrottet tasks top public servant to probe Barilaro’s plum post

Samantha HutchinsonNational reporter

Jun 23, 2022 – 5.59pm

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Already a subscriber?

NSW’s top-ranked public servant will probe a decision to hand a plum offshore trade post to former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro after revelations four candidates were shortlisted for the $500,000-a-year job before it was readvertised and handed to the former senior MP.

Premier Dominic Perrottet has asked the head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Michael Coutts-Trotter, to review the decision to appoint Mr Barilaro as the state’s senior trade and investment commissioner to the US, as the outcry to the decision overshadows the party’s budget week.

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.