After a turbulent break that saw the New South Wales government engulfed in a saga over trade appointments, the return of parliament from its winter recess failed to ease the pressure on the premier, Dominic Perrottet.
The government faces two competing controversies. While the appointment to trade postings remains a focus, a new scandal involving the state’s outgoing building commissioner, a sacked minister and a property developer has raised a fresh set of questions for the government.
Linked to both controversies is the former deputy premier John Barilaro, who was appointed to the lucrative New York trade posting and whose name features in the explosive resignation letter from building commissioner, David Chandler, released to parliament on Thursday.
Barilaro is set to reappear before a parliamentary committee investigating the trade posts on Friday, and is expected to face questions on both issues.
Ahead of the hearing, here are three key questions he is likely to face.
A resignation letter and ‘concerns’ about sacked minister Eleni Petinos
Chandler’s resignation letter has been the subject of fevered speculation inside Macquarie Street since it was sent last month.
Perrottet this week said it had been referred to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog on 1 August.
The letter revealed Chandler had raised concerns over “the advised relationship” between former fair trading minister Eleni Petinos and developer Coronation Properties.
Those concerns, he wrote, had “crystalised” after he placed a stop-work order on a major residential development owned by the company earlier this year.
Barilaro joined Coronation as an executive director after quitting parliament, and had worked for the company prior to his appointment to the New York trade job in June.
The letter reveals Chandler and Barilaro met in April, shortly after the stop-work order was issued.
Barilaro says that while the “stop-work order concerned me”, it was not discussed at the meeting. In fact, he says, he “made it clear at the time” that it was not his intention to discuss it.
He and Petinos had also met on 21 June for what they say was a “social” gathering, which Barilaro says occurred when “he was no longer an employee of Coronation”.
The inquiry is certain to probe this meeting as Barilaro had already signed his contract with Investment NSW to take up the role at the time.
How Stephen Cartwright became the London agent general
The inquiry has heard Stephen Cartwright, the former head of the NSW Business Chamber who was appointed to a senior trade role in London, was put forward late in the hiring process after another preferred candidate had been found.
Amy Brown, the head of Investment NSW, told the inquiry Cartwright seemed to believe he had an “elevated status” that saw him threaten to “go to” Barilaro and Perrottet during at-times tense contract negotiations.
But Brown, who only took over contract negotiations around March, says she doesn’t know how Cartwright became the preferred candidate for the job.
She also told the inquiry that Cartwright seemed to have “unrealistic” expectations for his salary.
As one of the ministers responsible for setting up the senior trade commissioner jobs, Barilaro will certainly be asked about what he knows about how the London job was filled.
How he found out about the job
Also of interest will be how Barilaro heard about the New York job.
Before leaving parliament, Barilaro had taken a submission to cabinet making the jobs ministerial appointments. His replacement, Stuart Ayres, subsequently decided not to follow through on that, instead making the public service responsible.
Barilaro reached out to Ayres some time in Decemberabout the status of the role, and Ayres later sent him a copy of the job ad.
But as the inquiry heard on Monday, a former staffer of his who went to work for the agency responsible for filling the role, Jennifer Lugsdin, may have been copied in on emails discussing plans to push ahead with the role.
Barilaro and Lugsdin had, by that time, begun a relationship.
After reading about the relationship the head of Investment NSW, Amy Brown, made inquiries into whether Lugsdin had declared a conflict of interest, the inquiry heard.
She never got an answer, and didn’t follow it up because Lugsdin had left by 22 December.
But the inquiry will probe Barilaro on how exactly he knew the job was available.
Barilaro has said that he “always maintained that I followed the process” and described the weeks since his appointment was announced as a “personal hell”.
