John Barilaro bureaucrat Amy Brown must go, says Chris Minns

NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns has called on Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown to be stood aside in light of the revelations presented by former senior bureaucrat Jenny West.

NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns. Picture: AAP

NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns has called on embattled Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown to be stood aside in light of the extraordinary revelations presented by former senior bureaucrat Jenny West, but says throwing a minister under the bus over the scandal won’t change the culture at the heart of the Coalition.

Ms West, a former deputy secretary at Investment NSW, alleged she was told by Ms Brown her appointment as the state’s NY trade posting would be rescinded because it would be “a present for someone”. Months later, former deputy premier John Barilaro was appointed to the plum position.

With Premier Dominic Perrottet and Trade Minister Stuart Ayres distancing themselves from the unfolding scandal, Ms Brown has drawn the ire of Labor, with Mr Minns calling on the government to stand her down, saying there was no other option.

“The evidence from Jenny West and Amy Brown was so at variance and so different from one another that we do need an explanation from Amy Brown,” Mr Minns said. “In the absence of any explanation from her in the public realm after Jenny West’s extraordinary evidence, I don’t think there’s a choice.”

His comments echoed opposition Treasury spokesman Daniel Mookhey, who argued Ms Brown should be stood down pending the outcome of all investigations into the matter.

On Tuesday, Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said the NSW parliamentary inquiry into Mr Barilaro’s appointment had sent the transcript from Ms West’s hearing to the corruption watchdog for its consideration. ICAC is considering investigating the matter.

Despite a contemporaneous note taken by Ms West claiming the source of the “present” comment was Mr Ayres, Mr Minns stopped short of calling for the Liberal deputy leader to stand aside pending the outcome of the Premier’s independent investigation into the matter, saying it would be futile.

“I’m reluctant to call for politicians to step down, of the conservative variety, for really one simple reason: I don’t think it’ll make much difference,” he said.

“My big fear is if Stuart Ayres went under a metaphorical bus, and someone else was put in his place, the culture won’t change and bad decisions that reward friends of the NSW government ahead of the public interest will be made over and over again.”

Mr Ayres categorically denies the allegations.

Efforts by Ms Brown to discredit Ms West during in-camera evidence, which was leaked to The Australian last week, claimed the former senior bureaucrat had “long periods” absent from work without explanation, plagiarised colleagues’ work and embellished sections of her resume. Ms West rejected the allegations, saying the first time she heard of them was through the media and had proceeded through a rigorous, seven-stage application process without any concerns being raised by the NSW government.

Mr Minns called for a cache of documents, requested by the upper house as part of the inquiry into Mr Barilaro but labelled privileged, to be released to the NSW public