A long-awaited report into the appointment of John Barilaro to a plum New York trade job has revealed the process was "flawed" and has made a raft of recommendations.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the "findings and entire process" of the recruitment of the former deputy premier as US trade commissioner has been "incredibly disappointing".
The independent report was commissioned by Perrottet to investigate the controversial appointment process of Barilaro to the $500,000-a-year trade posting.
He acknowledged the distress the recruitment to the trade role has caused many people and said the process was "flawed to say the least" but did not cast blame on applicants like Barilaro.
"Whilst we can't go backwards what we can do is ensure the recruitment processes in the future are robust and these mistakes are not made again," he said.
"The fundamental issue here is not on any of the trade commissioners or any of the applicants, the fundamental issue is the flawed recruitment process that has taken place. That's not their fault."
The report's recommendations include:
- Changes to the Government Sector Employment Act (the legislative framework for recruiting government jobs) to make sure ministers can't influence department secretaries in hiring processes.
- Full rule-based merit process to be applied when recruiting senior trade and investment commissioners.
- Legislating a code of ethics and conduct for the public sector.
- A parliamentary joint committee to "monitor and review" the role of the public service commissioner.
- Codification of the roles and responsibilities of secretaries of departments.
Perrottet said the government will accept these recommendations in full and they require legislation.
In addition to the report's recommendations, Perrottet said the government will introduce its own changes.
There will be a change to the ministerial code of conduct where for 18 months a minister cannot accept a job from a public sector department that reported to them.
In the case of Barilaro, he would not have been able to accept the US trade commissioner job, as he was trade minister and the agency was part of his portfolio and reported to him.
"That falls in line with the period of time with ministers who leave government who need to seek advice from the ethics advisor in regards to private employment," Perrottet said.
The second change means senior public servants will also need to seek ethics advice for their future employment and that advice will be published publicly.
The trade commissioner roles will now be appointed through the GSC act, which means there will be a specific legislative framework put to the hiring process for the plum trade jobs.
Perrottet hopes there will now be a clear path forward for hiring for trade jobs and that ministers won't be able to sway secretaries in the recruitment process.
It comes as two weeks ago, the premier was handed a draft of the report which ultimately led to the resignation of the then-minister Stuart Ayres after it raised questions about the Penrith MP's contact with the recruitment process for the New York trade job.
Ayres has consistently denied he breached any ministerial standards.
A parliamentary inquiry led by the NSW Labor party into the appointment process is continuing.
Barilaro was due to front the inquiry for a second time last week but pulled out due to "mental health reasons".
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