John Barilaro, a former deputy premier of NSW, will testify in front of a parliamentary committee looking into how he obtained a taxpayer-funded trade post in New York.
After negotiating a deal with the government to reveal three sizable tranches of papers pertaining to the nomination of the former NSW Nationals leader, the public accountability committee, according to Labor, has scheduled a number of hearings.
Labor’s Shadow Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said on Thursday: “This is a triumph for the public’s right to know and it’s a failure of the government’s attempt to cover up these documents and the information they contain.”
On August 8, Mr. Barilaro, who was appointed last month as the state’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas, will at long last present his perspective to the upper house inquiry.
Before contacting Mr. Barilaro, the committee waited for the government to release all of the records regarding the contentious appointment that it had asked for.
Less than two weeks after his nomination was made official, Mr. Barilaro stepped down from the position as the Perrottet administration came under mounting political pressure.
On Wednesday, when Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown makes a second appearance, the inquiry’s proceedings will pick back up.
On Friday, there will be another hearing with numerous witnesses called, including Gary Barnes, the secretary of the Department of Regional NSW, Siobhan Hamlin, and representatives from Investment NSW.
Ms. Brown earlier testified to the panel that she had withdrawn the $500,000-a-year job offer from her colleague Jenny West after their relationship had became “irreconcilable” with the government.
There are additional lines of inquiry, according to Mr. Mookhey, and there are still concerns about whether Investment and Trade Minister Stuart Ayres lied to the legislature.
Mr. Mookhey declared, “Mr. Ayres has some very significant questions to be answered.”
“How (was it) conceivable that he could state before the legislature that no acceptable candidate was discovered, when (he) was informed that Jenny West was the successful candidate—after a thorough recruitment process?
“Either he misled the parliament or he misled the people,” was the statement.
The premier of Mumbai, Dominic Perrottet, and Mr. Ayres told reporters on Thursday that he had “absolutely not” misled the parliament about the hiring procedure.
He claimed that he had only repeated information that Ms. Brown had provided it to him and that he still had full faith in her.
The pair’s trade mission has been plagued by the growing scandal, which has sparked a steady stream of contentious inquiries.
Mr. Ayres denied reports that Ms. West was demoted from her position to make room for Mr. Barilaro.
Mr. Ayres stated on Thursday, “I want to strongly refute that any decisions taken at the conclusion of the recruitment process were premeditated or choreographed to provide a chance for John Barilaro, alright.”
“That is a ridiculous suggestion,” she said.
He stated that Mr. Barilaro applied on his own behalf, that he did not accept calls from his former colleague, and that his status as a former deputy premier did not provide him an advantage over other candidates for the job.
Mr. Perrottet persisted in defending the choice, asserting that the former deputy premier was the most qualified applicant.
“I believe John Barilaro had that experience in NSW and was finally chosen on merit in an independent process, following my suggestion,” the speaker said.
John Graham, the deputy leader of the opposition in the upper house, said Labor was now concentrating on Mr. Ayres’ involvement in the appointment.
There are legitimate concerns regarding whether or not this appointment was truly made at arm’s length, according to Mr. Graham.
The government agreed to produce the additional records by Monday, so there are no longer any plans to recall the NSW Legislative Council on Friday, more than three weeks early.
It comes after video of Mr. Barilaro fighting with a cameraman outside a Manly bar on Saturday night was made public.
In the early evening, a security guard and the former NSW Nationals leader were seen enjoying pizza and beverages at a bar.
Later that evening, a Channel Seven reporter approached him to inquire about Labor’s obstruction of his attempts to appear before the inquiry into his job appointment.
The former leader of the NSW Nationals brushed off the inquiries and started to leave before lunging at two cameramen and having a security guard throw a microphone into a nearby bush.
His previous media assistant, who was also his new girlfriend, made an attempt to take the pricey equipment at one point.
After that, Mr. Barilaro got into a fight with cameraman Matt Costello because it appeared that he was attempting to take the camera from Mr. Costello’s hands.
Mr. Barilaro continued to swipe at Mr. Costello as he tried to continue shooting while shielding him with his other hand.
The gang then started to leave the altercation.
The former NSW deputy premier claimed to have had the camera and microphone thrust in his face when speaking to 2GB on Monday morning.
I’m a private citizen, yet the truth is that others are now interfering with my life, bothering me, and intruding.
“They came with a cameraman, I don’t know who it was, but you could see a bright light beaming in my bl***y face,” the person said.
“I did not manhandle anyone,” I said, “all I did was shove a camera out of the way.”