John Barilaro $500k-a-year role ‘a job for the boys’

John Barilaro’s appointment as NSW’s $500,000-a-year New York trade commissioner displays ‘all the trademarks of a ‘job for the boys’ position’.

Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ben Symons

John Barilaro’s appointment as NSW’s $500,000-a-year New York trade commissioner displays “all the trademarks of a ‘job for the boys’ position”, and former state cabinet minister Stuart Ayres was not at arm’s length throughout the process, a parliamentary report has concluded.

The appointment of former deputy premier Mr Barilaro as the senior trade investment commissioner to the US sparked a furore after it was announced late last June, with an inquiry established by Labor and the Greens to probe the processes that led to the decision.

Months of evidence led Mr Ayres, then the relevant minister, to lose his suite of portfolio responsibilities as he was dumped to the backbench by Premier Dom­inic Perrottet in August, who conceded that Mr Barilaro’s appointment had not been conducted at arm’s length.

Two subsequent investi­gations – one by former NSW public service commissioner Graeme Head and another by barrister Bruce McClintock SC – commissioned by the Premier subsequently cleared Mr Ayres of breaching the ministerial code, with the latter finding he had “complied with his obligations”.

The public accountability com­mittee’s report, handed down two months after the final hearing in early December, disagreed with the McClintock assessment, saying Mr Ayres had not been at arm’s length during the recruitment process for the positions.

“(The) minister was heavily involved in the recruitment process of the STIC positions and therefore was not at ‘arm’s length’,” the report found. As part of a 93-page report, committee members also found Mr Barilaro’s appointment displayed “all the trademarks of a ‘job for the boys’ position”.

“When answering questions on the appointment of Mr John Barilaro to the STIC Americas position, former minister Stuart Ayres misled the public. It is a matter for the Legislative Assembly as to whether former minister Ayres misled the parlia­ment,” the report said.

Mr Barilaro was contacted for comment.

The Premier dismissed the report as the product of a “political com­mittee”, underlining Mr McClin­tock’s assessment that Mr Ayres had been at arm’s length in the recruitment process.

“Today Labor’s focused on politics; I’m focused on fixing problems. This is a political committee. That’s what it is. I, as my role as Premier, instigated an independent review from a former inspector of the ICAC who cleared Mr Ayres of any wrongdoing,” Mr Perrottet said.

A dissenting statement written by Coalition committee members claimed the report was “nothing short of a politically motivated hit job” on the eve of an election.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Mr Ayres noted Mr McClintock’s independent inquiry, saying it had demonstrated that he acted “honestly, lawfully and without conflict” as he condemned the committee’s report as a “poor attempt at political mudslinging”.

“At no stage did I direct or indirectly encourage the public ­service to appoint Mr Barilaro,” he said.