Dominic Perrottet says he should have told John Barilaro not to apply for New York job

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet (left) and deputy Liberal leader Matt Kean. Perrottet says he would have told John Barilaro not to apply for the New York trade job, in hindsight. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has conceded he would have told John Barilaro not to apply for a lucrative New York trade job had he known about what he labelled a “problematic” hiring process that has thrown his government into turmoil over the past seven weeks.

After Barilaro revealed at an upper house inquiry on Monday that Perrottet had told him to “go for it” when he raised his plans to apply for the role last year, the premier conceded that he would have done things differently in hindsight.