Investment NSW lawyer at Barilaro inquiry

Jack Gramenz | July 19, 2022

The inquiry into former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro’s appointment to a highly paid trade commissioner role in New York continues, with a high-ranking government lawyer due to give evidence.

The inquiry resumes on Tuesday, and will hear from the general counsel for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Chris Carr.

Committee chair, Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, says Mr Carr is the most senior legal officer within Investment NSW.

He has been invited “to give evidence about his understanding of the processes and circumstances that led up to Mr Barilaro’s appointment”, Ms Faehrmann said on Monday.

Previous hearings have heard the role was offered to senior public servant Jenny West, who then lost her job at Investment NSW as the New York posting was withdrawn and given to Mr Barilaro.

Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown told Ms West she no longer had the job a month after she’d been offered the role, saying it “will be a present for someone”, the hearing was told.

Ms West said Mr Carr had told her he would be “bitterly disappointed” if he had found himself in the same situation, during a phone call last September.

Ms West’s testimony has been sent to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Labor MP Penny Sharpe says the treatment of Ms West resulted in a major loss for NSW.

“(Ms) West has been thoroughly done in through this process. A very well qualified and very impressive public servant and private sector executive could have been in New York right now but instead we’ve seen the government go out of its way to ensure that she never got that position,” Ms Sharpe said.

“I would love it if she applied again in the future, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she added.

Other hearings, including one where Ms Brown gave an explanation for taking the role away from Ms West, were held in private, but were leaked to the media by an as yet unidentified MP or MPs on the committee.

Documents show another highly qualified woman, Hong Kong-based executive Kimberley Cole, was shortlisted for the position after it was re-advertised.

Other documents have been kept from public view after government lawyers claimed they were privileged.

Mr Barilaro announced last month he would withdraw from the role saying it was “not tenable with the amount of media attention this appointment has gained”.

He has maintained he followed the proper processes.

Premier Dominic Perrottet has also launched an internal inquiry into the appointment, led by former public service commissioner Graeme Head, which he expects to be finalised in the coming weeks.

“I’ll review it and I’ll make it public and if there are recommendations associated with it, I’ll implement them,” the premier said on Monday.

“The advice that I’ve received … and continue to receive is that there was no suitable candidate,” Mr Perrottet said.