NSW premier learned of John Barilaro’s interest in New York trade job in a ‘social setting’

Then NSW deputy premier John Barilaro and then NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet enjoy a Guinness on St Patrick's Day 2021. Barilaro told Perrottet in a ‘social setting’ that he intended to apply for the US trade job. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

John Barilaro told the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, in a “social setting” that he intended to apply for a plum $500,000 trade job in New York, some time after the former deputy premier quit parliament last year.

On Tuesday the premier confirmed for the first time that he was aware Barilaro had intended to apply for the job, which has become the centre of a political storm amid questions about the recruitment process.