Barilaro saga reveals entitled, out of contact NSW authorities

The Perrottet authorities in NSW has plainly been caught out by the shift in public and media sentiment over what was a traditional a part of politics — pork-barrelling and jobs for mates. That shift is nearly fully right down to Scott Morrison, who as prime minister presided over the elevation of pork-barrelling and jobbery to a stage so egregiously in violation of conventional norms that it started shifting votes, even among the many politically disengaged.

However that does not clarify precisely why Stuart Ayres, and his colleagues, did not see the appointment of John Barilaro — a infamous pork-barreller himself — to a $500,000 a 12 months New York job as prone to offend voters and spark a media frenzy. Or why they thought what seems to have been a reasonably pathetic cover-up by Ayres was ever going to withstand essentially the most fundamental scrutiny.

Even after being pressured to resign, Ayres maintains he had no position in Barilaro’s appointment. It is a declare that borders on the delusional, given the detailed proof of his former secretary Amy Brown yesterday, and copious documentary proof that at a number of factors within the course of he performed an vital position in favour of Barilaro. His defence has consisted fully of merely repeating that he wasn’t concerned, even because the proof mounted up that he was. As a political tactic, it hasn’t fared a lot better than the appalling efforts of Coalition backbenchers on the Legislative Council committee to smear profitable candidate Jenny West.