John Barilaro told staffer he would get NSW govt to create NYC trade role, inquiry hears
John Barilaro allegedly told his ex-chief of staff that he would “get” the NSW government to create a role in New York because he wanted to take up a trade role, explosive statement tabled to parliamentary inquiry reveals.
NSW
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John Barilaro declared a plum posting representing the NSW government overseas would be “the job for when I get the f*ck out of this place,” and said he was “off to New York,” according to an explosive statement from the former Deputy Premier’s former chief of staff.
Mark Connell, who was Mr Barilaro’s chief of staff from April 2017 until December 2019, made the extraordinary claim – which Mr Barilaro refutes – in a statement to a parliamentary inquiry examining Mr Barilaro’s appointment to a senior New York trade role last month.
Mr Connell, a long-time political adviser, told the inquiry that Mr Barilaro vowed he would “get” the government to establish a trade position in New York that he could go to after politics.
Mr Connell said Mr Barilaro made the statement around April 2019 after a meeting “for the relevant newly appointed Ministers responsible for trade and investment”.
Mr Connell said that Mr Barilaro, who had recently been appointed as Trade Minister, attended a meeting with then Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Investment Minister Stuart Ayres.
“After this meeting, Mr Barilaro came directly to my office,” Mr Connell said.
“He said, ‘I’ve just come from a meeting with Dom and Stuart regarding trade and we’re going to bring back the Agent General in London as well as a bunch of other postings around the world’.
“He then stated, ‘This is it; this is the job for when I get the f*ck out of this place’.”
Mr Connell said the Agent General role would be filled before Mr Barilaro would retire from politics.
“Mr Barilaro then said, ‘I don’t want to go to London, f*ck that, I’m off to New York.’”
“I responded and stated, ‘our current office and staff are in California.’
“Mr Barilaro responded and stated, ‘I’ll get them to put one in New York, that’s where I’m off too’,” Mr Connell said.
The NSW government, via a press release from Mr Barilaro, announced the Agent General role would be re-established in October last year.
In a statement to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Barilaro rejected the claims made by Mr Connell.
“I completely refute the statement by Mr Connell. The conversation he has recalled is fictitious, false and only serves as a reminder as to why we had to part ways.
“If this inquiry is genuine in its intent to understand the process and the truth by which I was appointed, then surely I would be called up to provide this detail immediately,” Mr Barilaro said.
“The continued drip feed of select information from the inquiry into the public domain goes against all procedural fairness.”
Mr Connell said he did not have any further knowledge or involvement with the NSW trade roles apart from this incident.
“I learnt of Mr Barilaro’s appointment to this position when it was announced by the media, this prompted my recollection of the discussion outlined above,” Mr Connell said.
Mr Barilaro withdrew from the job last month amid public scrutiny about his appointment.
“I have always maintained that I followed the process and look forward to the results of the review,” he said at the time.
Mr Perrottet told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Barilaro never raised with him the prospect of applying for a trade role in multiple 2019 meetings.
“The former Deputy Premier and I had numerous discussions in 2019 in relation to the establishment of Global NSW and no point, in any of those discussions, was it ever raised that the former Deputy Premier may want to hold a position as a Trade commissioner,” Mr Perrottet said.
Labor’s Upper House leader Penny Sharpe said that she would “welcome the opportunity to hear from Mr Barilaro” at the parliamentary inquiry examining his appointment.
“Both Mr Ayres and Mr Perrottet are (also) going to have to come before the committee sooner rather than later,” she said.
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