Barilaro recommended Lugsdin for the role at Investment NSW in a phone call to agency boss Amy Brown in August last year. On Monday,Barilaro told the inquiry that he was unable to remember when that conversation took place,but insisted he was not in a relationship with Lugsdin at the time.
“I put forward her credentials for why she would be a good candidate,” Barilaro said under questioning. “I was not in a relationship with[Lugsdin] while I was deputy premier or a trade minister.”
The inquiry into his controversial appointment as US trade commissioner – from which he has withdrawn – has turned its attention to Barilaro’s relationship with Lugsdin.
According to Lugsdin’s LinkedIn profile,she worked at Investment NSW on a contract between August and December.
Barilaro said Lugsdin had a short-term contract with the agency that finished in December,“well before I applied for the[trade] job in January”.
He repeatedly said the pair were not in a relationship at the time he called Brown on her behalf as her employer,arguing that he did so for many staff members while in politics.