The appointment of former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro to a senior US trade role has all the trademarks of a ‘job for the boys’ position, a report has found.

The interim report from the Upper House Public Accountability Committee, released on Monday, makes preliminary findings on the circumstances behind Mr Barilaro’s controversial appointment as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas in July last year.

Mr Barilaro’s appointment to the $500,000 a year post was announced  three months before his resignation from parliament on October 4, sidelining a senior bureaucrat, Jenny West,  who had previously been identified as the preferred candidate.

The committee also found the then trade minister, Stuart Ayres, did not keep at arms length from the recruitment process.

“Despite assurances from senior public servants and ministers that the appointment process was conducted by the public service under a merit based process, it is clear that the process was flawed and that the executive was not at arm’s length from the process,” the report says.

‘Nonsensical change of government policy’

The committee says its inquiry uncovered how a preferred candidate was selected and offered the job, only to be “discarded in the guise of a nonsensical change of government policy”.

The inquiry also revealed the many ‘intersection points’ between then senior public servant Amy Brown, who had carriage of recruitment for the role, and Mr Ayres, which the report describes as “highly inappropriate and unacceptable.”

This inquiry has raised serious questions about the level of influence that ministers exerted on senior public servants such as secretaries and heads of executive agencies over what should be independent recruitment decisions.

Public Accountabiliy Committee Report

The report says the treatment of Ms West, who not only had an informal job offer withdrawn but was later made redundant, was “unfair, unprofessional and sends a terrible message to others applying for these types of roles in the future”.

The committee also criticised the proposal, later reversed, to make the trade position a ministerial appointment.

“The committee was provided with no satisfactory explanation as to why the appointment process was changed, nor why it was done with what appeared to be urgency,” the report says.

“It is important to note that the Cabinet decision to convert the STIC appointments was taken on 27 September 2021, the last Cabinet meeting attended by John Barilaro,” the report says.

The report also describes the treatment of candidate Rob Fitzpatrick, who was put into the talent pool after Ms West was dumped but was essentially ‘written out of contention’ for the second round which saw Mr Barilaro selected, as unacceptable.

“This inquiry has raised serious questions about the level of influence that ministers exerted on senior public servants such as secretaries and heads of executive agencies over what should be independent recruitment decisions,” the report says.

The committee backed the decisions, made after the circumstances of Mr Barilaro’s appointment came to light,  to sack Ms Brown from her public service roles and remove Mr Ayres from ministerial responsibilities.

The committee said it would will continue to investigate the issue in its final report.

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