A former NSW Public Commissioner will conduct the Premier's inquiry into the appointment of John Barilaro as trade commissioner to the US.
Premier Dominic Perrottet announced he was commissioning his own review on Thursday, assigning the task to the secretary of the department of Premier and Cabinet, Michael Coutts-Trotter.
It comes as controversy grows over how the former deputy premier and Nationals leader was awarded the plum job with a salary package topping $500,000.
In a statement on Saturday, it was announced that Graeme Head, who was the Commissioner of the NSW Public Service Commission for six years, would commence the review "immediately".
"To ensure the utmost independence and public confidence in the process, Mr Coutts-Trotter has decided to appoint an independent expert to assist the department with this inquiry," the statement said.
"Mr Graeme Head will conduct the inquiry on Mr Coutts-Trotter's behalf and report back to the department."
Mr Head, who is currently a partner at EY Port Jackson Partners, also has extensive experience in public administration and policy including leading the NDIS Quality And Safeguards Commission.
He will look into the hiring process including the mechanisms in place for managing "actual and perceived conflicts of interest".
A separate two-hour parliamentary public hearing into the matter will begin on Wednesday with just one witness — Chief Executive of Investment NSW Amy Brown.
Mr Barilaro's appointment as a Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas was announced a week ago, in what the government said was a "rigorous global talent search" by a recruitment firm.
Since then, it has emerged that a round of recruitment identified two highly-rated candidates with Investment NSW almost ready to publicly announce the successful person.
Those leaked emails went as far as naming senior bureaucrat within Investment NSW, Jenny West, as the successful candidate.
The review will look into the employment process, which cost upwards of $100,000 on the recruitment search before it was abandoned.
Mr Barilaro resigned from his political role one day after the decision was made to open the role to Ministerial officers.
Opposition Leader Chris Minns called the state government "reckless spenders" saying the Premier needed to show the people of New South Wales that he was genuinely concerned.
He also said the Premier's reassurances weren't enough in the face of so many unanswered questions.
"We were told initially that there was an independent process, we now know it was a ministerial appointment," Mr Minns said.
"We were told that the cabinet couldn't look at these positions, we now know that several appointments in fact, went to cabinet.
"We were told that this was an international search, we now know that that was in fact called off.
"And we also know that Mr Barilaro resigned on October 4. And someone else was appointed to the position in August, fired in September, Mr Barilaro resigns in October."
