‘Final decision-maker’ who picked John Barilaro for trade job directly reported to him as public servant

A senior public servant who directly reported to John Barilaro was the “final decision-maker” in appointing the former deputy premier to a plum $500,000-a-year trade job in New York, the premier, Dominic Perrottet, has told parliament.

On Wednesday, Perrottet revealed that Amy Brown, the chief executive of Investment NSW, was responsible for hiring Barilaro over the highly-qualified businesswoman Jenny West, who had previously been identified as the preferred candidate for the job.

It came after the Guardian revealed on Wednesday that Brown was directly involved in the decision to hire Barilaro, despite having reported directly to him before he left parliament in October of last year.

It can also be revealed that Investment NSW was in the “final stage” of preparing a draft contract for West before pulling the offer in September, and that Perrottet was first informed that Barilaro had been given the job in April this year.

In question time on Wednesday Perrottet told the parliament that as chief executive of Investment NSW, Brown had the final say on who to appoint to the New York City-based trade commissioner role.

Perrottet told parliament that Brown, who is also the secretary of the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade, was the “final decision-maker” both in appointing Barilaro and not going ahead with offering the position to West.

He said that following a briefing with the minister, Stuart Ayres, on Wednesday, he had been told the original recruitment process for the position “did not identify a suitable candidate” and that a second round of interviews was conducted.

“The secretary of the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade was the final decision-maker in respect of both recruitment processes and she’ll be able to explain the basis of her decision making,” he said.

Perrottet also told parliament that it “would not be lawful” for him to “intervene in any step of the process” in hiring Barilaro for the job, saying that as department head Brown was “authorised” to hire senior executives, including the trade commissioner positions.

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The government’s insistence that the first recruitment process did not find a suitable candidate comes despite the Guardian previously revealing West was told she had got the job by former premier Gladys Berejiklian in August last year.

That timeline is confirmed by an internal email, seen by the Guardian, showing that on 22 September an HR manager at Investment NSW wrote that a “preferred candidate” had been identified for the position and that a draft contract was in the “final stage” of being written.

“Proceeding with background checks and preparing briefs,” the email stated.

However, the dot point in the email making those references had a line through it, suggesting that by that stage the agency had decided not to go ahead with hiring West. In a statement on Wednesday, Investment NSW said that there had been “no formal offer” made “or contract issued” during the first recruitment phase. A spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether a preferred candidate was identified or whether a verbal offer was made.

It was Barilaro who first announced the creation of five trade commissioners, and one agent general based in London, in November 2020. The government said at the time that it would spend $112.4m appointing commissioners in Tokyo, New York, Mumbai, Singapore and Shanghai.

Internal documents obtained through parliament show that by May last year, at least four candidates had been identified for the US-based trade job, with former treasury secretary Mike Pratt endorsing two of the applicants. By July, interviews were being held with the applicants.

At the same time, Barilaro was announcing successful candidates in two of the other trade roles based in Tokyo and London in July and October respectively. Brown was also involved in their recruitment.

While Barilaro’s position was not approved by cabinet, the Guardian understands the other trade roles were.

But despite answering directly to Barilaro as the chief executive of Investment NSW, Investment NSW told the Guardian that Brown had no conflict of interest in appointing the former deputy premier to the role.

“No conflict of interest precluded the Investment CEO from making this appointment,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.