'I'm off to New York': John Barilaro allegedly told chief of staff he would have trade role made for him, inquiry hears

John Barilaro's former chief of staff claims the former NSW deputy premier said he would create the New York trade role for himself to coincide with his exit from parliament.

Mark Connell made a written submission to the parliamentary inquiry which is examining the appointment of Barilaro to the $500,000-a-year role, from which he has since withdrawn.

Connell claims the conversation took place in April 2019 when Barilaro was the NSW trade minister.

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He said ministers responsible for trade and investment, including then treasurer and now Premier Dominic Perrottet and Investment Minister Stuart Ayres, held a meeting.

"After this meeting, Mr Barilaro came directly to my office," Connell wrote in the statement.

"He said, 'I've just come from a meeting with Dom and Stuart regarding trade and we're going to bring back the Agent General in London as well as a bunch of other postings around the world'.

"He then stated, 'This is it; this is the job for when I get the f--- out of this place'.

"I responded to Mr Barilaro and stated, 'But John, the Agent General role will be filled well before you retire from this place.'"

Connell claimed Barilaro said: "I don't want to go to London, f--- that, I'm off to New York.'"

"I responded and stated, 'Our current office and staff are in California,'" Connell wrote.

Connell claims Barilaro responded with, "I'll get them to put one in New York, that's where I'm off to."

Connell served as Barilaro's chief of staff from April 2017 to December 2019.

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Barilaro has rejected the claims.

In a statement, Barilaro said: "The conversation he has recalled is fictitious, false and only serves as a reminder as to why we had to part ways.

"If this inquiry is genuine in its intent to understand the process and the truth by which I was appointed, then surely I would be called up to provide this detail immediately.

"The continued drip feed of select information from the inquiry into the public domain goes against all procedural fairness."

Perrottet, in a statement, said he, Barilaro and Ayres had "numerous discussions in 2019" regarding the establishment of Global NSW.

"At no point in any of those discussions was it ever raised that the former deputy premier may want to hold a position as a trade commissioner," Perrottet said.

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Barilaro withdrew from the New York trade commissioner role earlier this month, claiming it was "not tenable" due to the amount of media attention.

"I believe my appointment will continue to be a distraction and not allow this important role to achieve what it was designed to do, and thus my decision," Barilaro said.

"I stress that I have always maintained that I followed the process and look forward to the results of the review."