NSW politics LIVE: Inquiry into John Barilaro’s US trade appointment hears from thwarted candidate

“[Brown] added, and I quote, ‘you’re an extraordinary performer, and I am upset that this has happened’,” West said.

Brown has not yet had an opportunity to respond to West’s evidence. She has maintained the appointment of Barilaro to the trade commissioner role was a public sector appointment, and the government’s intended change of policy has not yet taken effect. She told the inquiry on June 29 that she believed she had fulfilled her responsibilities under the Government Sector Employment Act in appointing Barilaro to the role.

Barilaro said on June 30 that he would not take up the position, although he maintains he followed proper process.

West, who was a deputy secretary at Investment NSW when she applied for the trade post, was advised in November that her role with the government agency had been terminated. She received 38 weeks’ pay as a redundancy entitlement.

You can read a timeline of the evidence below, or Lucy Cormack’s wrap of the hearing here.

Thanks for reading our live coverage of today’s hearing. This is Michaela Whitbourn signing off on the blog for today.

• On or about September 27, 2021: The government advised Investment NSW that it wanted to change its policy to make the trade commissioner roles ministerial appointments, rather than appointments by the public service. Brown said the “decision of government” would have been conveyed to her by Barilaro’s office. “The instruction was to commence preparation of legislation and then it was for us to work through all the implications of that, come up with a timeline and process,” Brown said. (Legislation to make the roles subject to ministerial approval has not yet eventuated because Barilaro resigned as deputy premier on October 4 and the trade portfolio was reassigned to Stuart Ayres).
• September 27, 2021: West said Brown called her at 5.48pm and said it “didn’t go my way” and “the cabinet passed the proposal”. West said she interpreted this as meaning that she was not getting the New York trade post.
• September 17 - October 1, 2021: Brown said she gave West an “early heads up” on September 17 that her appointment may not proceed. She said the “verbal offer” was withdrawn on October 1, after the change in government policy, and Brown said West was “extremely upset”. Brown said “the relationship between the candidate and Investment NSW became troublesome” after September 17 and “by 1 October when I, as decision-maker, officially closed the recruitment process, I was of the view that there were no suitable candidates”. Brown said there were also tax issues that needed to be resolved before the recruitment process was restarted this year.
• West has said she was disappointed to hear Brown’s evidence before the inquiry on June 29. “I was very shocked and upset. I’ve worked exceptionally hard for my career...so I was quite horrified by what she had said because it is so different from who I am.”

• October 3, 2021: Brown emails a recruiter and says “we’ve now had confirmed instructions to commence the preparation of legislation to convert the global Senior Trade & Investment Commissioners to statutory officers”.
• October 14, 2021: West said Brown told her in a Teams meeting that the US trade post “will be a present for someone”.She said “[Brown] added, and I quote, ‘you’re an extraordinary performer, and I am upset that this has happened’.”
• November 19, 2021: West is made redundant from her role as deputy secretary, trade and international, within Investment NSW. She had emailed the head of Department of Premier and Cabinet, Michael Coutts-Trotter, on October 11 about the future of her role but did not hear back. “The next I heard from him was by way of a formal letter, terminating my employment one month later,” she said. “This was clearly not how I’d expected my public sector career to end.”
• April - May 2022: Brown said the policy change relating to the appointment of trade commissioners has not taken effect to date and a new recruitment process this year took place under the old rules. West did not reapply for the job. Barilaro, who announced his intention to resign from politics on October 4 last year and left parliament in December, was among 12 candidates who applied for the role this year. Brown had decided he was the man for the job by April 1 and formal contract negotiations began in late May this year.
• June 17: Barilaro announced as the successful candidate.
• June 30: Barilaro announces he will not take up the post, but maintains his appointment followed proper process.

West has told the inquiry she had was advised by Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown on October 1 last year that she would not be appointed to the trade commissioner role, which had been offered to her on August 12.

West said Brown had already warned her in September that the government was seeking to change the appointment process for trade commissioners to make them political appointments controlled by ministers rather than public service appointments.

Former deputy premier John Barilaro, who left parliament in December, was appointed to the New York-based trade post in June this year but Brown has said this appointment was conducted under the old policy and was not a political appointment. Barilaro has since indicated he will not take up the role, but has maintained he followed proper process.

Asked earlier in the inquiry if Barilaro had “somehow engineered a situation” in which he was appointed to the trade post, West said: “I don’t know.”

Brown said the government advised Investment NSW on about September 27 that it wanted to change its policy to make the trade commissioner roles appointments by ministers, rather than appointments by the public service.

Brown said the “decision of government” would have been conveyed to her by Barilaro’s office. “The instruction was to commence preparation of legislation and then it was for us to work through all the implications of that, come up with a timeline and process,” Brown said.

Barilaro applied for the role during a new recruitment process this year and was appointed by Brown under the old appointment process. The inquiry has heard the change in government policy has yet to take effect, and it is unclear if it will proceed.

Barilaro announced his intention to quit politics on October 4 last year and left parliament in December.

West said in a file note that Brown told her during a walking meeting in September at 7am in Balmoral that “she could not progress with my contract” because of this imminent change in policy.

“DP had put up a separate submission to get authority for decision making,” the file note said.

West said she understood this to be the deputy premier at the time, John Barilaro.

“I said I was horrified he could do that,” West said.

West said in a subsequent file note that Brown called her at 5.48pm on September 27 and said it “didn’t go my way” and “the cabinet passed the proposal”.

West said she interpreted this as meaning that she was not getting the New York trade post.

The inquiry heard the file note said: “I can’t believe it. I came into government to make a difference ... just to get my legs taken from under me ... I’m flabbergasted and still in shock. I don’t know what else to say.”

Asked today if she still felt this way, West said she had “moved forward” and she was a “big believer that you have to back yourself and move forward”.

“I had negotiated the terms of my contract,” West said. She said the then premier, Gladys Berejiklian, had signed off on a briefing noting her appointment.

West said she was told her contract would be ready in four weeks after its terms were approved on August 14.

She was “still chasing” the contract on September 16, she said.

West said she was “very shocked” by the evidence given at the inquiry by Brown and she believed they had a good professional relationship before then.