Head said he was also “not empowered” to examine Barilaro’s motivations for bringing a cabinet submission to make the commissioner roles ministerial appointments in September last year,before he resigned from politics.
In his review,Head raised concerns about possible failures of ethical conduct,and said subsequent scrutiny had brought the integrity of public service recruitment processes into “some disrepute”.
Amid scrutiny of Barilaro’s controversial appointment,it emerged that Brown worked on a shortlist of candidates with Ayres and sought his views about a specific candidate.
Ayres resigned from the ministry earlier this month after the premier received a draft excerpt of the review raising concerns about his involvement;however,he has always insisted he remained at arm’s length from the process.
The review described significant concerns with Ayres and Brown shortlisting candidates,which Brown did not disclose to the independent members of the selection panel.
Brown also failed to disclose to panel members that she had concluded contract negotiations with Barilaro before the panel made its final assessment of candidates.
“Specifically,the material before me strongly suggests that Ms Brown factored into her consideration of candidates her views as to the preference of the Minister,even if the Minister did not expressly convey a preferred outcome,” Head found.
“I am not suggesting any impropriety on the part of the then minister,merely that any characterisation of the process as arm’s-length is not supported by the available material.”
Asked if he still had confidence in Brown,the premier said it was “ultimately a matter for the secretary”,referring to Department of Premier and Cabinet boss Michael Coutts-Trotter.
Coutts-Trotter did not respond to questions,but a DPC spokeswoman said he would now independently review Head’s findings about Brown.
The review also found claims that no suitable candidate was found during the first recruitment,involving Jenny West,were unintentionally “misleading”.
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Head conducted interviews for the review with Barilaro,Ayres,Brown,senior bureaucrats and independent selection panel members. He said West declined to be interviewed and instead provided documents through her lawyers.
The report wascommissioned by the premier in July amid backlash over Barilaro’s recruitment for the role,which is also the subject of an ongoing upper house inquiry.
Perrottet on Tuesday said the reforms to follow the Head review will clarify the role and responsibility of ministers and secretaries of departments.
“Mistakes will happen from time to time,and that’s just part of politics. This change today ensures that these errors won’t happen again”.
Changes will be made to the Government Sector Employment Act to prevent ministers from directing department secretaries in the exercise of their employment functions.
Barilaro resigned from politics in December last year,before he was named in June as the investment and trade commissioner to the Americas,a role he was involved in creating in his former capacity as trade minister.
Barilaro was due to give his second day of evidence to the upper house inquiry probing his job appointment last Friday,however,he withdrew from the hearing due to mental health reasons. He is expected to return at a later date.
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