Barilaro inquiry as it happened: Dr Marianne Broadbent, Warwick Smith appear as investigation into New York trade role continues

Welcome to today’s live coverage of the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the state government’s international trade commissioner roles.

The managing partner at external recruitment firm NGS Global, Dr Marianne Broadbent, will give evidence from 1.30pm.

Then at 3.30pm, the inquiry will hear from businessman Warwick Smith. Smith was an independent member on the hiring panel that selected John Barilaro for the New York trade job.

You can watch the hearing below:

This afternoon’s hearings have now concluded - thank you for following our live coverage. To recap the day’s evidence:

• Recruitment consultant Dr Marianne Broadbent, from NGS Global,

  confirmed the state’s London-based agent-general, Stephen Cartwright, did not make an initial application for the role.

• Another candidate, Paul Webster, was the frontrunner and had entered salary talks before former secretary of NSW Treasury, Michael Pratt, requested Cartwright be considered. Cartwright told Broadbent he had discussions with former deputy premier John Barilaro about the role.

• Broadbent said she received numerous emails from Cartwright about his pay for the agent-general role, and confirmed she received an email in which he claimed NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet had agreed to his expenses.

• Broadbent said she was “shocked and surprised” by Investment NSW boss Amy Brown’s testimony to the inquiry regarding the selection panel reports prepared during Barilaro’s hiring process. She denied Brown’s claim that they were sent “in error”.

• Independent panel member Warwick Smith said he felt “bypassed” in the recruitment process that appointed Barilaro to the plum New York trade role. “To get a note one day saying ‘please sign here’ - some two months after you’d had the interview anyway - seems to me to be used or being taken for granted,” he told the inquiry.

• Smith said Barilaro’s high-profile references - Gary Barnes, Arthur Sinodinos and Barry O’Farrell - should not have been the “tipping point” for his appointment. “I’m not going to make a decision just based on referees. I just would not do that, ever,” he said.

• Smith said both Webster and Cartwright were good candidates for the London role. He said the final outcome - with Webster hired as the less senior trade commissioner, and Cartwright as the agent-general - was that “you had the benefit of both”.

• Regarding former deputy premier Barilaro, Smith said: “He interviewed well, he could have done okay, but there were others that have a deeper international experience and offshore experience.”

We don’t yet have a date for the next set of hearings, but Barilaro is due to appear again at some stage after last week’s session was cancelled.

You can read Lucy Cormack’s summary of today’s evidence here. I’m Natassia Chrysanthos signing off the blog. Have a lovely evening.

Businessman and former Liberal MP Warwick Smith has been asked whether former politicians are the right fit for the government’s trade roles.

He gives a detailed answer, referencing the fact he himself entered politics as a young person but left federal parliament 24 years ago.

My sense is that the political life is a life that can be a great contributor in the business world, and for our communities, in a post political environment. It always depends on the individual.

But to just come out of political life and be rescued straight into a job that you may not fully be appropriate for is not it’s not a good thing, because then it diminishes those roles and it diminishes the political process.

But there’s been some great, great political people that have gone into roles internationally and domestically.

You need to maintain flexibility and look for capability.

Regarding former deputy premier John Barilaro, Smith said: “He interviewed well, he could have done okay, but there were others that have a deeper international experience and offshore experience.”

In general, Smith defended the new NSW trade commissioner roles and strategy.

“This was a very good strategy. This was a strategy that had long been delayed [when] we had changes in premieres a little bit more quickly than would ordinarily take place,” he said.

“My sense is that this is really, really important.”

Warwick Smith has told the inquiry there was an element of surprise to him when he learned the “self-described Crocodile Dundee of Queanbeyan wanted to go to New York” - making reference to former Nationals’ leader John Barilaro’s ambition for the Americas trade role.

Smith told the inquiry he was also surprised, as someone with experience in public life, that he did not hear anything about the New York trade role recruitment process until three months after the initial interviews.

“I didn’t hear from anybody until the day I’m told to sign it [the final report] ... and not even by the government, by the recruiter. I found that quite extraordinary, to be honest with you,” he said.

Labor asked how Smith felt, in hindsight, when he learned Barilaro had already signed a contract for the job at that point. “Did you feel disrespected?” Daniel Mookhey asked.

“Clearly,” he said.

Smith also said he thought former bureaucrat Jenny West would have made a good candidate in New York given her experience.

“I understood that you know, she was off and going,” he said. West’s offer for the job was later rescinded.

The inquiry is now taking a break and will resume at 3.30pm with the testimony of independent panel member Warwick Smith.

In addition to her evidence given this afternoon, Marianne Broadbent has made a nine-page written statement to the committee. The document is private.

The committee indicated to her their preference to make the statement public, as it has made many other documents tendered to the inquiry publicly available.

“My strong preference is that that’s not published in full,” Broadbent replied.

“It’s the sort of detail we would not normally provide. I have provided it to the committee on the basis of the need to understand the full context of many issues, plus the fact that some evidence has been given that I believe is incorrect or incomplete.”

That decision will be made later.