The former deputy premier of NSW, John Barilaro, has told an inquiry into his appointment to a plum $500,000 New York job that he wishes he had ‘never applied’.
‘If I knew what I know now I wish I had never had applied. If I knew what I knew now I wouldn’t have walked into that s**t show,’ he said.
Mr Barilaro said this was because ‘the trauma I have experienced in the past six to seven weeks is significant’.
In his opening statement, Mr Barilaro said the upper house inquiry is ‘an inquiry to clear my name’.
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro is pictured leaving the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney, Wednesday, March 23, 2022
He said being a former MP did not take away his ‘fundamental right’ to a presumption of innocence.
‘I refute any suggestions that I sought out any special treatment during the public service job process where an independent panel, on merit, put me forward as the preferred candidate,’ he said.
Mr Barilaro said he had ‘endured what can only be described as a personal hell, unfair and unjust’ over the scandal that has also dragged in three high-flying female executives.
A senior public servant was initially promised the elite level trade job in New York before it was given to Mr Barilaro.
He told the inquiry on Monday that became interested in the New York job last November, after he had announced he would resign from parliament but before he left.
Award-winning Australian businesswoman Kimberley Cole (pictured) was drawn into the NSW New York trade job scandal
Mr Barilaro said he mentioned his interest in the position to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet in a ‘passing comment’ in late November.
‘He was checking in on me, and on one of those occasions I flagged [it]… I said that I’d be interested. He had nothing more to say than “go for it”.’
Mr Barilaro said he was not aware that the New York job was vacant at the time. ‘I just flagged the option, and the idea, of a trade role.’
The scandal surrounding the appointment of Mr Barilaro to a New York trade role dragged in three high-flying female executives and destroyed a friendship between two of them.
The public servant in charge of hiring for the job, Investment NSW executive Amy Brown, told a parliamentary inquiry looking into the recruitment process on that the experience had been a ‘confusing’ and ‘disheartening’ one.
The political drama has also drawn in highly accomplished businesswoman Kimberley Cole and former NSW Investment executive Jenny West, once a friend of Ms Brown’s.
Both lost out to former NSW deputy premier Mr Barilaro for the New York role even after Ms West received a text, complete with champagne and Statue of Liberty emojis, from Ms Brown that she had job before seeing it ripped away in 2021.
The job was readvertised this year and Ms Cole was the preferred candidate after interviews but failed to impress then trade minister Stuart Ayres after being given just 12 minutes to chat with him over video link.
The job eventually went to Mr Barilaro, who signed a contact in June but stepped down last month after public outcry.
He said he did not know that Jenny West was the successful candidate in the first recruitment round last year.
‘I didn’t know that Jenny West was… offered the job. I only found that out during these proceedings,’ he said.
Mr Barilaro was asked why he signed a brief identifying Ms West as the successful candidate.
“That has a digital signature on it, it hasn’t got my personal signature on it,’ he said.
‘I wouldn’t say that, under oath, if I didn’t believe it to be the case.’
He said he was ‘a big fan of’ Ms West. ‘I’m going to make this absolute clear in this forum.
‘She was a strong professional, a fantastic public servant and someone that did a fantastic job for me in that role.’
The now abandoned Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas job has seen two months of negative headlines for the NSW Liberal-National Coalition government and has already cost one minister his job.
Mr Ayres, the former deputy Liberal leader, resigned last Wednesday after a draft review into the scandal found he may have breached the ministerial code of conduct.
Speaking at a lengthy press conference last week, a stressed-looking NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said Mr Ayres’ ‘intention to resign follows a briefing I received from the Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary yesterday afternoon’.
Amy Brown (pictured) outlined the processes that saw two high-flying women passed over for trade role that eventually went to former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro
‘I subsequently discussed the issues raised in that briefing with Mr Ayres,’ said Mr Perrottet.
He added that the draft report ‘raised a concern as to whether Mr Ayres had complied with the ministerial code of conduct’.
‘When I put these matters to Mr Ayres, he offered his resignation from the ministry and as deputy leader Parliamentary Liberal Party,’ Mr Perrottet said.
‘An investigation will now be undertaken to determine if Mr Ayres has breached the ministerial code of conduct.’
Former Investment NSW senior executive Jenny West (pictured) told the inquiry in July that Ms Brown said the New York trade job was a ‘present for someone’, which Ms Brown denies
The Premier hinted that Mr Ayres had little choice but to resign, saying ‘very simply, I based my decision making on the information that I received’.
Mr Barilaro said he ‘genuinely believed’ that Mr Ayres had done nothing to help him.
‘I don’t believe he was going to bat for me and I think he’s been quite public about that,’ he said.
Mr Ayres was the second NSW ministerial casualty in just four days.
Mr Perrottet sacked NSW Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos over bullying allegations.
Ms Petinos was accused of calling a staff member ‘ret**ded’ and ‘stupid’, allegations she strenuously denied.
In a dreadful couple of months for the Liberal-National Coalition, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption also found former minister John Sidoti engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct’ over family-owned properties.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet (pictured) is under pressure following an alleged ‘jobs for the boys’ scandal
And Kiama MP Gareth Ward resigned from the ministry and moved to the crossbench due to a police investigation into him.
In March, Ward was charged over allegations of sexual abuse against a man and a 17-year-old boy.
The appointment of the former NSW deputy premier and Nationals leader Mr Barilaro to a US trade job earlier this year has been an escalating scandal for the government.
Mr Barilaro and his new partner were filmed lunging at camera crews after being confronted outside a bar on Sydney’s northern beaches late last month, in a sign the pressure of the situation may have been getting to him.
He was locked in a scuffle with two cameramen after he was confronted during a night out, with police now investigating the very public row.