Former NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has told a parliamentary inquiry that he is the “victim” in the saga surrounding the $500,000 New York trade commissioner position he was awarded.
Barilaro also says he had the same chance of getting the job as anyone else that had applied for the role, and at no point did anyone raise concerns with him about applying.
While fronting a NSW upper house inquiry on Monday, Barilaro said that he had run the idea of him applying past former trade minister Stuart Ayres, premier Dominic Perrottet and treasurer, Matt Kean.
Perrottet told him to “go for it”, Barilaro said.
“No one ever raised with me that this would be politically sensitive,” Barilaro said. “At no point did anyone say it would create controversy.”
Barilaro’s appearance at the inquiry comes weeks after news broke that a former senior bureaucrat, Jenny West, said she had an offer for the job rescinded when she was told it would instead be a “present for someone”. Barilaro was later awarded the role.
The scandal has engulfed the Perrottet government for nearly two months, with former trade minister Stuart Ayres resigning last week amid an investigation that he breached the ministerial code.
Barilaro refuted any suggestions that he had sought out any special treatment during the job selection process, and insists he was put forward as the preferred candidate through an independent process.
“Let me make this clear. I applied for a public service job as a private citizen. Nothing excluded me in doing so. I followed the exact same process that was afforded to others,” Barilaro said.
“I went through several interviews, psychometric testing and police checks. I was offered a job. I accepted the job. I then withdrew from this job.
“From that moment I’ve endured what can only be described as a personal hell, unfair and unjust.”
It was also revealed that former NSW Premier, now High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell, provided a reference for Barilaro for the job.
At the inquiry, Barilaro admitted that the process wasn’t as “clean” as it should have been, but insisted he was the “victim, not the perpetrator”.
“If I knew what I know now, I wish I had never applied…I wouldn’t have walked into what was a shit show,” he said.
“I’m going to use those terms I’m sorry to say because the trauma I’ve gone through over the past six, seven weeks has been significant.”
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday morning, NSW Labor leader Chris Minns said Barilaro’s claim that he was the victim is “a bit ridiculous”.
“I mean, it’s a bit ridiculous. At this point, this is taxpayer money. We need to know how it’s been spent. Circumstances around this appointment have been completely un-transparent from the very beginning,” Minns said.
“It seems as though these positions are being offered around almost like lolly bags to senior members of the New South Wales government rather than what they’re intended to be, which is senior positions funded by the taxpayer.”