Perrottet ‘impeded’ committee’s work in Barilaro report
Phoebe Loomes |
A NSW parliamentary committee has accused Premier Dominic Perrottet of hindering its probe into lucrative overseas trade roles.
“The premier’s refusal to assist this inquiry in its investigations has impeded the committee’s ability to determine his role in the selection of Stephen Cartwright as the NSW Agent General UK, as well as determining his remuneration,” the committee said in its final report released on Monday.
The inquiry was launched to investigate former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro’s appointment to a taxpayer-funded US trade position and was later expanded to examine similar lucrative roles, including that of Mr Cartwright.
The upper house committee report found Mr Barilaro interfered in that hiring process by meeting with Mr Cartwright, and failed to engage with a candidate who had previously been preferred for the job.
Mr Barilaro also talked with Mr Cartwright about his salary expectations, boosting his expectations.
The committee report said this was highly inappropriate and showed poor judgment.
Mr Cartwright, who eventually landed an annual pay packet of $600,000 along with a $105,000 rent allowance, applied pressure to public servants during negotiations, the committee found.
The premier dismissed the report’s findings and denied Mr Barilaro had acted inappropriately.
“This is typical of Labor, back in the upper house playing more games,” he told reporters on Monday.
The premier cited independent reports commissioned by the government.
An initial report found the trade department’s secretary had been indirectly influenced by former trade minister Stuart Ayres during Mr Barilaro’s hiring.
She was subsequently sacked with a payout of at least $405,000.
A subsequent report cleared Mr Ayres of any legal wrongdoing.
The committee, chaired by Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, said the inquiry revealed “how ministers inappropriately influenced” appointments and “confirmed the government’s lack of integrity and transparency in appointing who they want to high paying public service positions”.
It recommended the government investigate Mr Cartwright over his salary, saying the deal had been a bad outcome for the state.
“Mr Cartwright repeatedly and inappropriately applied pressure to senior public servants to improve his personal remuneration … resulting in a poor financial outcome for the state of NSW,” Ms Faehrmann wrote.
“The committee is recommending the secretary of the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade to investigate whether Mr Cartwright has at all times abided by the code-of-conduct applicable to the senior executive service.”
The committee’s three coalition MPs dismissed the findings in a dissenting statement.
“This report is a politically-motivated hit job from a desperate Labor-Greens coalition weeks out from an election,” they said.
A pattern of inappropriate interference by ministers revealed in the final report, which was similar to that shown an interim report released earlier this month, found Mr Ayres was not at arm’s length from the process of recruiting Mr Barilaro.
“This whole sorry saga has shaken the public’s confidence in the integrity of public service recruitment,” Ms Faerhmann wrote in the interim report.
The hiring process was flawed and not carried out at a distance from executives, the committee found after months of investigation and a dozen public hearings.
Mr Ayres was also accused of misleading the public when appearing at the inquiry.
AAP
