Something fishy about Barra posting

It's 2022 and 'jobs for the boys' are never going to pass the pub test. 

It's 2022 and 'jobs for the boys' are never going to pass the pub test. 

This is a comment piece by our federal politics and investigations editor Olivia Caisley.

John Barilaro took the bold step of walking away from a $500,000 per year job in NYC on Thursday night, saying the major drama over his appointment was causing too much of a distraction for the NSW Government who would like to win the state election in March next year.

Go figure.

The public and politicians can argue about whether this was the respectable, or necessary, thing to do. Either way, the damage has been done, and an already teetering trust in politicians has taken another blow. 

If there's one thing the 2022 federal election taught us it's many Australians are absolutely jack of a "business as usual approach" in politics and expect more from their elected representatives. In fact, they'll punish pollies they feel aren’t acting with integrity. 

That's why news the former deputy premier of NSW scored that plum job in the Big Apple at the expense of a female candidate who “exceeded expectations” just didn't smell right and smacked of "jobs for the boys”.

At its core, the Big Apple job just felt rotten and an all-too-predictable case of powerful blokes looking out for each other. It didn't help that everyone in the NSW government seemed to distance themselves from the appointment, insisting it was not a ministerial decision.

John Barilaro was the architect of the highly paid and very prestigious position he was selected for. That alone was going to raise eyebrows, even before the two parliamentary inquiries were announced.

In a statement, Barilaro maintained that proper processes had been followed but conceded he could no longer take up the job he had created while in office. 

“I have always maintained that I followed the process and look forward to the results of the review,” he said.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the reason Barilaro landed the job was because no one else was good enough in a recruitment search that spanned the globe.  

Having been the former trade minister and NSW deputy premier, he probably was a very good candidate.

But extraordinary evidence to an inquiry examining the recruitment process on Wednesday called that into question when it was heard a candidate who “exceeded expectations” had been found before Barilaro.

Not only that - Jenny West - had been verbally offered the role only to have it rescinded after a "change of government policy".

“She was verbally offered the role and then I was given a direction by government to cease the recruitment due to a change in government policy,” Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown, who previously worked for Barilaro and was hiring for the role, told the inquiry.

Whether or not there has been any wrongdoing — and The Oz is not suggesting there has been — is a matter for a NSW inquiry investigating the circumstances around Barilaro’s selection, but the saga certainly reinforces a public perception that pollies simply need to do better.

With just nine months to the NSW state election Perrottet will have his fingers crossed that Barilaro's stepping aside will give him a bit of fresh air.

And even if Barilaro comes out of the inquiry smelling like roses, the latest political stink should be a reminder for federal Labor to deliver that corruption inquiry they promised at the election because politicians are very much on the nose with the public.