Former trade minister Stuart Ayres will be called to an inquiry that is probing the state’s controversial trade commissioners when it resumes next month.
The departure of a top public servant who ran the process that handed Barilaro a $500,000 trade commissioner job has consequences for Ayres too.
The NSW premier is now left with an impossible choice:reinstate Stuart Ayres to cabinet or keep him on the backbench and ignore the finding that his former deputy leader did nothing wrong.
A pre-election cabinet reshuffle is the most realistic avenue for Stuart Ayres to return to the Perrottet ministry after he was cleared of wrongdoing in John Barilaro’s appointment to a US trade post.
Former trade minister Stuart Ayres could return to NSW cabinet after a review probing his involvement in John Barilaro’s appointment to a US trade post cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Dominic Perrottet has not ruled out reinstating the former trade minister,who resigned from cabinet over the Barilaro trade job saga.
The ship of state has lost eight overboard.
The trade offices have come under intense scrutiny since the controversial appointment of former deputy premier John Barilaro to the US role.
A WhatsApp message from Stephen Cartwright to former trade minister Stuart Ayres outlined his concerns over expenses and living conditions.
A candidate panel report for the state’s most lucrative trade role had to be “massaged”,a series of new explosive emails reveal.
The inquiry has laid bare the muddied line separating the state’s most highly paid public servants and the government ministers who can hire or fire them on a whim.