John Barilaro’s former chief of staff claims the then-deputy New South Wales premier had stated as early as 2019 that he wanted a New York trade job for “when I get the fuck out of this place”.
In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into Barilaro’s now-abandoned appointment to the plum New York posting last month, Mark Connell recounted a conversation he claims to have had with his then-boss in April 2019.
Connell, who served as the former deputy premier’s chief of staff from 2017 to 2019, alleges Barilaro came to see him following a meeting with then-treasurer Dominic Perrottet and minister for investment, Stuart Ayres, over plans to create six senior trade postings in cities around the world.
“This is it; this is the job for when I get the fuck out of this place,” Connell alleges that Barilaro told him after the meeting.
Barilaro has rejected the accusation.
The former chief of staff’s submission said he queried the statement at the time, asking: “But John, the Agent General [a London-based trade commissioner role] will be filled well before you retire from this place.”
He said Barilaro responded: “I don’t want to go to London, fuck that, I’m off to New York.”
Connell wrote in the submission: “I responded and stated, ‘our current office and staff are in California.’
“Mr Barilaro responded and stated, ‘I’ll get them to put one in New York, that’s where I’m off to.’”
The explosive submission will place renewed pressure on the NSW government over an appointment which has engulfed it in controversy since it was announced last month.
Barilaro, who has since pulled out of the job, said Connell’s submission was false.
“The conversation he has recalled is fictitious, false and only serves as a reminder as to why we had to part ways,” Barilaro said in a statement released soon after Connell’s submission became public.
“If this inquiry is genuine in its intent to understand the process and the truth by which I was appointed, then surely I would be called up to provide this detail immediately.
“The continued drip feed of select information from the inquiry into the public domain goes against all procedural fairness.”
The Guardian first revealed in June that the lucrative New York City trade job was first offered to the senior businesswoman and former public servant Jenny West in August of last year.
Despite receiving a verbal offer for the position from Investment NSW, as well as a signed brief noting she was the successful candidate from the then-premier Gladys Berejiklian, the offer was withdrawn a month later.
The position was readvertised in December and Barilaro’s appointment was subsequently revealed in June.
The government has insisted he was hired by the public service following an independent recruitment process, and that “no successful candidate” was identified during the initial recruitment process that ended with West receiving a verbal offer for the job.
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns seized on Connell’s submission, demanding Perrottet front the media to answer questions before he leaves on a 10-day trade mission to Japan, South Korea and India on Wednesday.
“If you look at the statement from the chief political advisor to Mr Barilaro the position of the New York trade commissioner was created by John Barilaro for him to fill,” Minns said.
Labor’s leader in the upper house, Penny Sharpe, who sits on the committee probing the appointment, also said she would welcome Barilaro giving evidence.
“I think the point that we’re getting to too is [it is] clear that both Mr Ayres and Mr Perrottet are going to have to come before the committee sooner rather than later,” she said.
Responding to Connell’s allegations, the NSW premier said he was not aware of any such comments made by Barilaro.
“The former deputy premier (Barilaro), Minister Ayres and I had numerous discussions in 2019 in relation to the establishment of Global NSW, and at no point in any of those discussions, was it ever raised that the former deputy premier may want to hold a position as a trade commissioner,” Perrottet said.
Connell – who fell out with Barilaro prior to leaving his office in December 2019 – said in his submission that the conversation with his then-boss took place about a month after he had been appointed the state’s minister for trade.
He said that following the April conversation he had no further dealings over the trade jobs.
“I did not have any involvement, knowledge or discussions with any persons, in relation to this particular matter, prior to, or proceeding this ‘isolated’ discussion with Mr Barilaro,” he said in the submission.
“I learned of Mr Barilaro’s appointment to this position when it was announced by the media, this prompted my recollection of the discussion outlined above.”
The Guardian has contacted Barilaro for comment.
