Former NSW deputy Liberal party leader, Stuart Ayres, has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code of conduct in the hiring of John Barilaro to a lucrative New York trade job following an independent review.
Released on Monday, the report by prominent Sydney barrister Bruce McClintock SC found Ayres “complied with his obligations” under the code during the hiring process that saw the former deputy premier appointed.
Ayres stood aside as deputy Liberal leader and trade minister in August after a separate report into the Barilaro saga questioned whether he may have breached the code during his interactions with the secretary of the department, Amy Brown, who had ultimate hiring authority for the role.
That report, by former public service commissioner Graeme Head, found a series of issues, including that Brown “involved” Ayres in “discussions about the composition of the shortlist” for the job, and arranged for another candidate, Kimberly Cole, to meet with the minister. These, Head found, were not “managed fully in keeping with the requirements” of the public service code of ethics.
Both Ayres and Brown have denied any wrong doing, and McClintock’s report into the minister’s role found he had acted in line with expectations.
“There is nothing … that suggests any request that a public servant act unlawfully, any dishonesty on the part of Mr Ayres, nor any conflict of interest on his part,” McClintock wrote.
McClintock also disagreed with Head’s finding that the hiring process had not been at “arm’s-length”.
McClintock questioned how “useful” Head’s definition of “arm’s length” was, saying it was a “counsel of perfection” to expect Ayres would not have discussed the role as minister with Brown.
In any case, he said, even if the process was not at arm’s length that “does not establish any breach of the ministerial code of conduct”. He found that while there may have been failures of “process” they were not “of substance”.
“I am not suggesting that the prescribed processes should not be followed or that departures from them may not be significant, although I do not consider that to be the case here,” McClintock said.
Ayres did not give “any direction relevantly to Ms Brown” and had “acted honestly and in what he considered to be the public interest”.
Since his resignation, Ayres has been replaced by the NSW treasurer, Matt Kean, as the deputy Liberal Party leader. But the exoneration will place intense pressure on Perrottet to return Ayres to cabinet, despite some senior ministers privately urging him not to risk a reshuffle which could reanimate the Barilaro saga just six months from the state election.
Ayres holds the crucial marginal seat of Penrith, and will be agitating for a return. In a statement immediately after the release of the report, he said the report made clear he “acted lawfully, honestly, and had no conflict of interest”.
He pointedly quoted comments he attributed to Perrottet after he had received the report, saying the premier had told him it was “an emphatic exoneration”.
“I have said consistently that I acted in accordance with the ministerial code of conduct and that the recruitment decision was made by the public service in accordance with the law,” he said.
“That position has been clearly supported by both reviews conducted by Mr Head and Mr McClintock.
“I have always acted honestly and with integrity in my service to the public of NSW.”
Perrottet last week refused to rule out reinstating Ayres to his cabinet.
