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The documents reveal that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s office also received the same briefing.
A trail of emails shows his office received a final copy of the brief on August 13 last year and returned it as “noted” to the office of the chief executive of Investment NSW.
Perrottet has similarly maintained in his public comments that the first recruitment process for the Americas trade commissioner role did not identify a suitable candidate.
Then-premier Gladys Berejiklian and former trade minister John Barilaro also received the brief, which noted West was the recommended candidate of a selection panel that included Investment NSW boss Amy Brown and planning department head Jim Betts.
The documents were produced on Tuesday following a three-week delay and the intervention of Perrottet, who told his department he expected outstanding documents relating to the controversial appointment of Barilaro be produced by the end of this week.
Dozens of documents handed to the upper house on Tuesday – including applicant CVs and selection panel reports – have been marked privileged. This means they can be seen by members of the upper house but are not available to the public or media.
The delay in returning the documents has also prompted an unexpected early recall of the upper house. Parliament was not due to sit again until next month, but the house will now sit at 10am on Friday if the full tranche of documents are not released by then.
Ayres spoke in Singapore on Monday, at the opening of a NSW trade office in the city-state, and said he was interviewed last week by former NSW public commissioner Graeme Head, who is conducting the independent investigation into the recruitment process.
He also defended Barilaro’s appointment. “I think if a person is the deputy premier of NSW and a trade minister they’ve got pretty good qualifications for the role,” Ayres said.
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“I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that one of these positions has been given to a person … who is a former member of parliament.
“I haven’t seen anything published or presented at any committee that suggests that John Barilaro did anything other than apply for the job as a private citizen and be selected on his merit.”
Barilaro has since quit the trade commissioner job, conceding that his appointment was a “distraction” and untenable.
Ayres will travel to Mumbai on Tuesday to join Perrottet on his trade trip.
What they said
- Stuart Ayres: It is important to recognise that at the end of the first round of recruitment there was no suitable candidate identified... Investment NSW advises me, very clearly, that no formal offer was made, or contract issued, to any candidate as part of the round one process. Quite clearly what has happened here is that the CEO of Investment NSW has made a determination, after the completion of the recruitment process, that there is no suitable candidate. Then they moved into a new recruitment process. - Legislative Assembly Hansard, 22 June 2022
- Dominic Perrottet: I will say this in relation to this matter. I met with the Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade this morning and I was advised the following; here are the facts. The first recruitment process did not identify a suitable candidate. As such, a second recruitment process was undertaken. That process was independent and led by a third‑party recruiter. The Secretary of the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade [DEIT] was the final decision‑maker in respect of both recruitment processes, and she will be able to explain the basis of her decision‑making. The employment of Mr Barilaro has already been formalised. - Legislative Assembly Hansard, 22 June 2022
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