The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has conceded he would have told John Barilaro not to apply for a lucrative New York trade job had he known about what he labelled a “problematic” hiring process that has thrown his government into turmoil over the past seven weeks.
After Barilaro revealed at an upper house inquiry on Monday that Perrottet had told him to “go for it” when he raised his plans to apply for the role last year, the premier conceded that he would have done things differently in hindsight.
“Obviously if I had my time again I would have asked him not to [apply],” Perrottet said.
“But you need to understand it was a passing comment and like I would encourage people, whether they’re my colleagues or people in the public, I am there to encourage people.”
The government maintained for weeks that the process that led to Barilaro’s posting was done at “arms-length” from ministers, but a series of revelations about his involvement saw the former trade minister, Stuart Ayres, resign from cabinet.
The government revealed on Tuesday it would ask respected silk Bruce McClintock to lead a review into whether Ayres may have breached the ministerial code of conduct over his interactions with the head of Investment NSW, Amy Brown during the recruitment process.
Perrottet said the review would be made public once it was completed.
Treasurer Matt Kean was elected as the new deputy leader of the Liberal party unopposed on Tuesday.
Kean had been expected to face off against his factional rival the transport minister, David Elliott, but the latter withdrew from the race on Monday afternoon, saying he had made the decision after a conversation with Perrottet.
“Yes, I’m disappointed. Yes, I’ve had to eat humble pie. Yes, I’ve had to say to the premier, ‘yep, you’re the boss’,” Elliott told Sydney radio station 2GB.
Elliott was not present at the party room meeting on Tuesday, Perrottet said, because he was unwell.
The premier said he had asked both Elliott and Kean to “focus on party unity” during a phone call on Monday.
On Tuesday Perrottet conceded the hiring process behind the New York position was “flawed” and “problematic”.
“If everyone knew what they know now about the process, I mean the whole situation has been incredibly disappointing for everybody who had been involved, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“Clearly there were problems [in the process].”
Also on Tuesday, the parliament voted unanimously to suspend Drummoyne MP John Sidoti from parliament after he was found to have engaged in “serious corrupt conduct” to benefit his family’s property interests by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
In an emotive speech prior to the suspension motion, Sidoti said he maintained his innocence and revealed he plans to launch an appeal against the findings in the NSW supreme court this week.
“I’m actually gobsmacked that telling councillors to lift their game is considered an attempt to improperly influence,” he said
“A few emails, a handful of texts and casual meetings mean that it was claimed to be a sustained attempt to improperly influence. What a ridiculous assertion and completely ignorant of multi-level political relationships.”
However with Liberal preselections for the March election due to open shortly, he conceded he would not be able to stand as a candidate for the party.
