EXCLUSIVE: State government’s trade commissioner forced to work from a room in his San Fransisco home
Connell initially believed Barilaro was referring to another trade role based in London, but claims in the submission that the then deputy premier said: “I don’t want to go to London, fuck that, I’m off to New York.”
The office did move, however. In September 2019, while Barilaro was still the minister responsible for trade, Investment NSW told budget estimates it was paying $584,800-a-year for its operations in San Francisco. Barilaro was one of three ministers – along with Gladys Berejiklian and then-treasurer Perrottet – whoThe Global NSW strategy stated that New York would be one of six “key hub cities” for senior trade commissioners, while San Francisco would remain as a “spoke” location.
Kylie Bell, a senior public servant in the agency, told budget estimates that while the government was keeping the west coast trade role, “we do not use an office there”.In a statement, a spokesperson from Investment NSW told Guardian Australia the office was closed “due to Covid-19 lockdowns around April/May 2020”. But the agency did not answer questions about why the decision had been made to shift its focus from California to New York.
Earlier, he said the previous set-up in the US had been “incredibly poor” and that having two trade offices in the US “will make a real difference”.
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