James O’Doherty: Government facing scandal after scandal

Just as the Premier is about to jet overseas selling NSW to the world, his Government has been hit by two more bombshell revelations, writes James O’Doherty.

Timing is everything in politics and, for Premier Dominic Perrottet, Wednesday’s bombshell revelations, of which there were two, could not have come at a worse moment.

Explosive claims that John Barilaro wanted a plum overseas posting when he left politics and a corruption finding levelled against former Minister John Sidoti amounted to a dark day for the NSW Government, less than 12 hours before Perrottet was due to fly off on a 10-day trade mission.

Far from spruiking NSW to the world, Perrottet will now be spending the trip defending his own government from blows that keep on coming.

First, parliament’s Public Accountability Committee released an explosive statement alleging Barilaro said in April 2019 that an overseas posting with the NSW Government would be the job for him after he left politics.

According to the statement, from Barilaro’s former chief of staff Mark Connell, Barilaro said he would “get” the government to establish a trade role in New York which he could then take up.

John Barilaro’s former chief of staff Mark Connell. Picture: LinkedIn

It was allegedly after a meeting of senior ministers to discuss reviving the NSW Government’s Agent General in London.

“I don’t want to go to London, f**k that, I’m off to New York,” Connell alleges Barilaro said.

John Barilaro’s plum trade post debacle was one of two major bombshells revealed this week, putting Premier Dominic Perrottet in a position of defending his government from blows that keep on coming. Picture: James Gourley

The London Agent General job was axed almost 30 years ago after an expenses scandal involving former Minister Neil Pickard, who had been sent to London as a consolation prize for losing his seat in a redistribution.

That resurrecting job would be the catalyst for Barilaro to allegedly say he wanted to create a plum job for when he got “the f. k” out of politics has more than a whiff of irony.

Barilaro strongly refutes Connell’s evidence. “The conversation he has recalled is fictitious, false and only serves as a reminder as to why we had to part ways,” Barilaro said in a statement to this newspaper.

Nationals sources were closing ranks behind Barilaro on Wednesday, claiming Connell’s statement to the parliamentary inquiry examining his former boss was “payback” for being “let go” from his old job.

John Sidoti leaves the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Despite continued statements from senior ministers that Barilaro’s appointment was made completely independent of government, the whole saga is looking increasingly dodgy.

If Connell’s claims were not bad enough, they were followed hours later by the Independent Commission Against Corruption finding former Minister turned independent John Sidoti engaged in “serious corrupt conduct” by using his official position in parliament to influence councillors in his own party to benefit his family’s property holdings in Sydney.

Sidoti has staunchly denied claims heard by ICAC that he sought to influence councillors to include his parents’ property in redevelopment plans.

The corruption finding poses two problems for Perrottet.

Because Sidoti was a Liberal MP until he was booted from the government when ICAC announced it was looking into him, the Coalition could be further tarnished by association.

Second, Perrottet already governs in minority. Perrottet, on Wednesday night, declared the government would seek to suspend Sidoti from parliament if he doesn’t resign.

But if Sidoti leaves parliament or is forced out, any potential by-election could see Labor pick up another seat and further stymie the government’s legislative agenda.

Just over a month ago, treasurer Matt Kean handed down the final budget before the 2023 election. Since then, the budget sales pitch has been all but non-existent — the government has instead been batting away multiple distractions.

Perrottet will begin his trade mission on Thursday morning in Japan before heading to Korea and India.

But if he thinks he can escape the long shadows being cast by a 11-year-old government in the Land of the Rising Sun, he is sorely mistaken.