The CEO of Investment NSW will front a public hearing on Wednesday over the recruitment process for former deputy premier John Barilaro's new job in the US.
Key points:
- Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown will face a two-hour hearing next week
- Ms Brown said in an email the New York job would be an "internal matter"
- Dominic Perrottet has promised a public review of the appointment
Mr Barilaro was last week named the state's senior trade commissioner to the Americas, to be based in New York, with a salary package topping $500,000.
A previous round of recruitment identified two highly-rated candidates, and in August last year, internal emails, obtained through parliament, show Investment NSW was almost ready to publicly announce the successful person.
It's understood this was a senior bureaucrat within Investment NSW, Jenny West.
On August 23, Kylie Bell, the executive director of trade at Investment NSW, asked a colleague "could we get started as well this week on the media release shells for NY, Mumbai and Singapore".
"I think we are close to be able to announce NY and the others will probably be ready to go sometime in September. Then we are all done."
Emails in early September stated a contract for the US role was being prepared.
But three weeks later, the agency's general counsel Chris Carr was investigating other methods of employment, emailing "we have been asked whether there is an option for ministerial appointments".
As the ABC reported on Thursday, Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown then wrote to the external recruiter on October 3.
"I appreciate that you'll keep this confidential, but we've now had confirmed instructions to commence the preparation of legislation to convert the global Senior Trade & Investment Commissioners to statutory officers (ie Ministerial appointments)," she said.
"This means that the recruitment process for the STIC positions in Singapore, India/Middle East and China will need to be ceased, and all candidates informed that we're not going any further with the process.
"We will be handling the STIC New York position as an internal matter."
Mr Barilaro announced his resignation from politics the next day.
A parliamentary inquiry will investigate the appointment and recruitment process.
It will hold a two-hour public hearing on Wednesday, with only one witness, Ms Brown.
The NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns said a full explanation of how Mr Barilaro, who actually announced the creation of the commissioner roles when he was the trade minister, ended up with the job.
"I think this has gone from farce to farce, the original explanations provided to the public in the first few days have proven to be wrong ... or wildly off the mark," he said.
"We need to understand exactly how Mr Barilaro was appointed to this position.
"This was not the gift of the NSW government, these are taxpayer funds that are going towards Mr Barilaro to take up a position in New York City."
The ABC put detailed questions to Investment NSW about who made the request for the roles to be transitioned to ministerial appointments and why.
In a statement, a spokesperson said they could not comment due to another review being conducted by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Premier Dominic Perrottet has repeatedly defended the appointment of Mr Barilaro to the role, saying it was a public service appointment which did not require the input or approval of any ministers.
But on Thursday he announced his department would conduct a review which he would make public.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIyLTA2LTI0L2ludmVzdG1lbnQtbnN3LWNlby10by1mcm9udC1qb2huLWJhcmlsYXJvLWlucXVpcnkvMTAxMTc5OTk00gEA?oc=5
2022-06-24 05:58:29Z
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