Lawsuit against John Barilaro over trade role dropped

The lawsuit against former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro has been dropped.

A lawsuit filed by a senior public servant against former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro has been dropped at the agreement of all parties.

The former deputy secretary of Investment NSW, Jennifer West, sued Mr Barilaro in the NSW Supreme Court, claiming he was given a high-paying New York-based trade role that had initially been offered to her.

The lawsuit alleged Mr Barilaro and others had breached their obligations in public office over the saga, which Ms West described as “a very disappointing episode in my life”.

The court confirmed on Tuesday that Ms West discontinued the lawsuit in November, a move consented to by all parties.

Mr Barilaro was announced as taking up the $500,000-a-year role in June 2022, but he resigned from the position within two weeks after noting his taking the job had become “untenable” due to media and parliamentary scrutiny.

Ms West later told a parliamentary inquiry into Mr Barilaro’s appointment as senior NSW trade and investment commissioner in New York that she had earlier been given the job.

She reported having received a briefing note signed by then-premier Gladys Berejiklian before it was withdrawn and the bureaucrat was terminated from her job at Investment NSW.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption found no evidence of corrupt conduct when it examined Mr Barilaro’s appointment.