Dominic Perrottet declines to appear at probe into John Barilaro New York job

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has declined an invitation to answer questions about the appointment of John Barilaro to the state’s plum New York trade posting.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Picture: James O'Doherty,

Dominic Perrottet has declined an invitation to answer questions about the appointment of former deputy premier John Barilaro’s appointment to a plum New York trade posting, despite acknowledging he now had concerns about the way the recruitment process was handled.

The NSW Premier’s comments came as fresh evidence revealed Mr Barilaro hurried his staff to expedite a cabinet submission in the weeks leading up to his resignation from Macquarie Street to convert the $500,000-a-year trade postings into ministerial appointments.

On his first day in Japan, part of an overseas trip to open the state’s Tokyo trade commission office, Mr Perrottet said he no longer believed there was “no substantive issue” with the way Mr Barilaro was appointed to the position at the expense of former senior bureaucrat Jenny West.

“Concerns have come to light in relation to how the Jenny West matter was handled (of) which obviously I was unaware,” Mr Perrottet said. “So those concerns have been raised that will form part of that process; I think it’s pretty clear that improvements to the system can be made.”

Despite his concerns, opposition Treasury spokesman Daniel Mookhey revealed that Mr Perrottet had turned down an invitation to appear in front of the upper house inquiry, with the Premier’s office saying he would be available during budget estimates, at the end of August.

“This is a very disappointing decision,” Mr Mookhey said, ­revealing Trade Minister Stuart Ayres had indicated he was still considering the opposition’s invitation.

“The fact that the Premier has now from Japan declined an invitation to appear certainly does make us think that the Premier is a bit fearful of scrutiny of his role here,” Mr Mookhey said.

In-camera evidence provided by Joseph Brayford, Mr Barilaro’s senior policy adviser from March 2019 until his resignation, alleged the former Nationals’ leader rushed staff to ensure a submission to convert the positions to ministerial appointments went before cabinet later that month.

In a transcript of evidence released on Thursday morning, Mr Brayford revealed his former boss texted him requesting a cabinet submission be prepared “ASAP”. Prepared by September 17, the submission was debated 10 days later – one week before he stepped down from politics.

Mr Brayford agreed with Mr Mookhey’s assertion that a 10-day turnaround time for a cabinet submission was “pretty fast”, saying the “usual practice was a few weeks”.

Asked whether the usual process of circulating the submission among ministers didn’t take place, Mr Brayford said: “No.”

“He indicated to me a specific cabinet meeting it was going to go to and then I just would have prepared according to that,” he said.

Mr Barilaro assured his staff “he will deal with getting it on the agenda”, Mr Brayford recalled. Six months later, Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown determined Mr Barilaro would be given the $500,000-a-year trade commissioner position.

The revelations come just 24 hours after a submission by Mark Connell, Mr Barilaro’s former chief of staff, claimed the former deputy premier had said the soon-to-be re-established Global NSW senior trade and investment commissioner roles were a chance to “get the f..k out of this place”.