New south wales sydney australia Trade Minister Stuart Ayres resigns

New South Wales Trade Minister Stuart Ayres resigns after an inquiry into John Barilaro's appointment

New south wales sydney australia Trade Minister Stuart Ayres resigns

He resigned after an investigation "raised concerns" about his conduct in appointing John Barilaro to a lucrative U.S. business role.

Mr. Ayres was the deputy leader of the Liberal Party of New South Wales, and also served as minister for investment, tourism, sports, and Western Sydney.

Prime minister Dominique Perrottet revealed that Mr. Ayres would resign from his post and his leadership position in the party, but he still denied any wrongdoing.

He will continue to serve as a deputy.

 

The resignation comes after Perrottet ordered a review of the appointment of former deputy prime minister Mr. Barilaro to the key role of New York-based senior trade and Investment Commissioner for the Americas.

"Mr. Perrottet said"Late last night, Minister Stuart Ayres informed me that he was resigning from his ministerial posts and deputy leader of the NSW Parliamentary Liberal Party.

"His intention to resign follows a briefing I received from the Department of Premier and cabinet minister Michael Coates Trotter on a section of chairman Graham's draft report relevant to Mr. Ayres.

"Mr head's draft findings raised concerns about whether Mr. Ayres had complied with the ministerial code of conduct."

Mr. Ayres's conduct in the process-which ended with Mr. Barilaro's appointment to the lucrative US trading role-has been under increasing scrutiny in recent days.

The documents released to a parliamentary inquiry investigating the appointment appear to contradict public statements made by Mr. Ayres about the recruitment process.

He confirmed that the operation was completed at an arm's length from him and that he had not done anything wrong.

On Monday, Mr. Ayres admitted sending a job advertisement for the position to Mr. Barilaro and later said he was "discouraging" his former cabinet colleague from applying if he had his time again.

Mr. Perrottet said today that Mr. Ayres denies any wrongdoing, but there was" no doubt "that the findings in Mr head's draft report raised questions"about whether or not there was a breach of the ministerial code of conduct".

The prime minister said Mr. Ayres was expected to remain in Parliament." he said"When I spoke to him last night, he told me he intended to stay on as a member of Penrith," he said.

In a statement, Mr. Ayres accepted Mr head's review "creates a question" about whether he had breached the code of conduct but said: "in my view, no such breach has occurred."

"However, I agree that it is important that this matter be properly investigated and support the prime minister's decision to do so," he said.

"I have always applied the highest standards of integrity in my conduct as a minister."To preserve the integrity of the cabinet, I have decided to resign as minister to allow the investigation to be completed."Accordingly, I will also resign as deputy leader of the Liberal Party."

What did Mr. Perrottet say?

Mr.Perrottet said the issues raised by the draft report "go straightforwardly to Secretary Ayres' commitment with the Department's secretary," Amy Brown, during the employing process.

• He said there was no evidence that Mr. Ayres had "lied" about his behavior.

• Mr. Perrottet defended his handling of the matter, which lasted for several days, saying he acted as soon as the information came to light.
• he said"What I'm not going to do is make decisions based on media pressure or political pressure, "I will make decisions, as I have always done, about what I think is right.
• Mr. Perrottet said that he was not aware of what Ms. Brown was going to say, and that — as far as he was concerned-he acted as soon as he received information.
• he said " I have said from the beginning that the Senate investigation will do its job.
• My task was to carry out an independent audit and that's exactly what I did.

Ms. Brown, the chief executive of Invest NSW, was today summoned to give evidence again at the parliamentary inquiry into the matter.

Opposition leader Chris Mainz backed the prime minister, claiming there was" clear evidence " that Mr. Ayres had misled Parliament and the public.

What did Mr. Minns say?

Minns said that today's parliamentary inquiry heard that Barilaro's recruitment was not carried out at a distance from Mr. Ayres, a claim repeated by the former minister: "in an urgent way".

• Mr.  Minns said "The cover-up here is probably worse than the crime.
• I think the public would have been outraged if there was a post for an issue and it was advertised transparently.
• I think they've been taking the audience on tour for the last few weeks.

MLC Daniel Mukhi's Labor Party said the public deserved to know what Mr. Ayres had allegedly done and if the prime minister had referred the matter to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.