The stunning claim by a former top NSW official that she was given a $500,000 role as a trade ambassador so that it could be given to a politician instead is now firmly in the crosshairs of the state’s anti-corruption watchdog.
Jenny West, a former director of Investment NSW, told a parliamentary inquiry Monday that her dream job in New York was snatched just weeks after she was offered it after an extensive application process.
Investment NSW head Amy Brown told her it had become a political appointment and would instead be offered as a ‘gift’ to someone else.
The job was eventually claimed by former NSW Deputy Prime Minister John Barilaro, but he resigned in June after a public outcry.
Ms West said she went to the job in New York on a four-week stretch of appointment only to be told she was likely to be fired
Jenny West, a former senior bureaucrat at Investment NSW, has testified before an investigation into how she landed a plum trade ambassador role, but it was snatched and later given to former Deputy Prime Minister John Barilaro.
NSW’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is now investigating the apparent debacle, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Tuesday.
If the body gets involved, it will further inflame the NSW government, which, after an earlier ICAC investigation, saw the resignation of former Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian.
An ICAC spokesperson said they “could not confirm or deny whether investigations were taking place.”
Ms. West was offered the role of senior trade and investment commissioner for America with a briefing signed by Ms. Berejiklian on August 12 last year.
Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown, who oversaw the recruitment, even texted her with a Statue of Liberty emoji and a champagne bottle “celebration” emoji, Ms West said.
Ms West received a text from her manager celebrating her scoring the coveted role
NSW Commerce Secretary Stuart Ayres has rejected ‘offensive’ suggestions he has disrupted New York trading post’s nomination
However, Ms. West was never given a formal contract and on October 14 last year, Ms. West was informed that she was not offered the position.
“Mrs. Brown said the position – and this is a quote – ‘will be a present for someone,’” Ms West told the inquiry.
She added, and I quote again, ‘You are an extraordinary artist and I am angry that this happened.’
In a note sent to her lawyers, Ms West said that Ms Brown had told her she had received instructions from the Secretary of State for Commerce, Stuart Ayres.
Mr Ayres rejected the claims in a statement issued after the investigative hearing.
NSW Commerce Secretary Amy Brown (above) sent Ms. West a congratulatory text after she was offered the job as New York Commerce Ambassador
“I didn’t say it was my job to be a ‘gift’ to someone and I find that idea offensive,” he said.
“All my actions have been to ensure the independence of the public service during this recruitment process.
“Amy Brown is and was the decision maker for this role.”
A spokesman for Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet also denied that there was any political interference in the process.
“The advice from Investment NSW Chief Executive Amy Brown was that there was no suitable candidate for the role in the first round of recruitment,” the spokesperson said.
“This was reaffirmed in her evidence on June 29.”
Ms West told the inquiry that during a ‘walking meeting’ with Ms Brown along Balmoral Beach in Sydney on September 17, she was told that the then Secretary of State for Trade, Mr Barilaro, had submitted a proposal to the Cabinet to appoint the Job Commissioner for jobs politically. to give appointments.
During that same walk, Ms. Brown also told Ms. West that her position was being laid off due to restructuring.
“In four weeks, I went from tenure to the role of senior trade and investment commissioner for the Americas to possibly out of a job,” Ms West told the inquiry.
She noted that a very similar position to hers at the same level was recently advertised on LinkedIn.
Mr Barilaro, then NSW Secretary of State for Trade, has denied doing anything inappropriate
Ms West said she found the decision to take away the job baffling.
“I didn’t understand how a lawsuit could be stopped halfway through and then told I’d lost my existing job,” she said.
“So to be honest, I couldn’t get past that.”
In a certified letter, Ms. West wrote that on their walk she asked Ms. Brown, ‘How can he just change things like that to give his mates a role to help in the election?’
Ms. West told the inquiry that she could not remember who she was referring to.
NSW Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet says Ms Brown’s advice after recruitment process is that there was no suitable candidate
Ms Brown previously told the inquiry that although the filing had been submitted to the Cabinet, no decision had been made yet.
She had made Mr. Barilaro’s trade commissioner on merit following a second selection process led by a global recruiting firm and Investment NSW.
“I would have liked to have stayed in the public service. I felt there was a lot more I could add in terms of my skills,” she told the survey Monday.
“I was concerned about the preliminary process, but I had accepted that it was a ministerial or… a parliamentary appointment versus a public sector appointment.
‘I would have accepted that, but I wanted to stay in my current position because I felt I had much more to offer. And I was pretty passionate about some of those important projects I was working on, and I wanted to make a difference.”