A parliamentary inquiry has found former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro's appointment to a plum New York trade job had "all the trademarks of a 'job for the boys'".
The inquiry, chaired by Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann, was conducted over six months last year, and today has released an interim report.
It found Mr Barilaro's proposal, while he was still deputy premier, to convert the state's Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner (STIC) roles to be ministerial appointments were brought about without a reasonable basis.
"The inquiry uncovered how a preferred candidate was selected and offered the STIC to the Americas position to only then be discarded in the guise of a nonsensical change of government policy," Ms Faehrmann said in her foreword.
The report also found former trade minister Stuart Ayres was "not at arm's length" during the recruitment process which appointed Mr Barilaro.
The interim report includes a dissenting statement from Nationals MLC Wes Fang and Liberals Scott Farlow and Peter Poulos, which says the findings should be rejected.
"This report is nothing short of a politically motivated hit job in the lead up to an election," they stated.
The inquiry also found Mr Ayres misled the public when answering questions about Mr Barilaro's appointment.
An independent review by Bruce McClintock SC cleared Mr Ayres of breaching the Ministerial Code of Conduct in the process of appointing Mr Barilaro.
That review had been commissioned in response to the findings of another, conducted by former public service commissioner Graeme Head, which didn't find impropriety by Mr Ayres, but said the whole process could not be described as at "arm's length".
Mr Barilaro was announced as NSW's STIC to the Americas in June, but withdrew from the position within weeks due to the ongoing media and political scrutiny.
The position was based in New York and attracted a $500,000-a-year salary.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Mr Ayres called the inquiry "at best a poor attempt at political mud slinging".
"Mr Bruce McClintock SC, former Inspector of the ICAC makes clear in his Letters Patent review that I acted honestly, lawfully and without conflict while exercising my duties as a minister."
Mr Ayres adds the decision to appoint Mr Barilaro was made independently of him.
"At no stage did I direct or indirectly encourage the public service to appoint Mr Barilaro," he wrote.
"To suggest anything else is plainly false."
The ABC has contacted Mr Barilaro for comment.
The premier has previously confirmed Mr Ayres will be reinstated as a senior minister if the Coalition wins the election in March.
The report states an "abundance of evidence" confirmed a senior bureaucrat in Investment NSW, Jenny West, was selected as the preferred candidate during recruitment for the STIC Americas position.
This included copies of a selection panel report and briefing notes sent to then-premier Gladys Berejiklian, Mr Barilaro and then-treasurer Dominic Perrotett, listing her as the top pick.
Emails and texts between Ms West and Investment NSW regarding salary negotiations were also aired during the inquiry.
The government had maintained that a suitable candidate was not found in that round of recruitment.
Mr Perrottet today dismissed the inquiry's findings, saying it was a "political committee".
"I, as premier, instigated an independent review from a former inspector of the ICAC who cleared Mr Ayres of any wrongdoing," he said.
"I will listen to an independent former inspector of the ICAC [rather] than Labor and the Greens in a political committee."
NSW Labor today reiterated its commitment to abolishing the trade roles, including the Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas.
"Make no mistakes, if it wasn't for this committee John Barilaro would be in New York city right now, and Stuart Ayres would be sitting inside the New South Wales cabinet," Opposition leader Chris Minns said.
"My message to the people of New South Wales is straight forward: if the government is re-elected on the 25th of March they will do it again and again and again."
Labor has also called on Mr Barilaro, who withdrew from hearings in August citing mental health reasons, to reappear before the upper house inquiry to answer questions on the appointment of Stephen Cartwright to the UK Agent-General role.
In November last year, the inquiry which was broadened to include the London posting, was told that on February 17, 2021 during a coffee meeting over an unrelated matter, Mr Barilaro asked Mr Cartwright if he might be interested in the Agent-General role and enquired about his pay package at his previous job.
Mr Cartwright said he was taken by "complete surprise" by the suggestion and when Mr Barilaro left the meeting he said something to the effect of "you come back and tell us how it can be made to work for you".
The next day, Mr Cartwright met with Mr Barilaro in his parliament house office to say he would like to apply for the role.
A final report from the committee will be handed down towards the end of the month and will focus on the key issues around this appointment.
Ms Faehrmann said the committee would also give a copy of the interim report to the ICAC.
Last week, an auditor-general's report found the office of then-deputy premier Mr Barilaro intervened in a $100 million bushfire recovery program.
The investigation revealed Mr Barilaro's office had a $1 million minimum threshold installed, which meant several "shortlisted projects in areas highly impacted by the bushfires" were ineligible.
These included all shortlisted projects which were in Labor-held electorates.
The auditor-general's report also included a response from the Department of Regional New South Wales.
"In terms of the projects that were not funded in the fast-track round [including some excluded due to the $1 million threshold], many of these were subsequently funded in other programs that were in simultaneous development … and were better suited to those types of projects," department secretary Rebecca Fox said
The Department of Premier and Cabinet has given the auditor-general's report to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
