Stuart Ayres increasingly isolated as trade saga rolls on | LucyCormack AlexSmithSMH
Cabinet colleagues are refusing to back embattled Trade Minister Stuart Ayres amid the worsening fallout from the John Barilaro trade scandal as Premier Dominic Perrottet pleads with angry MPs to give him more time to resolve the crisis engulfing the government.
Under pressure: Trade Minister Stuart Ayres maintains he has done nothing wrong and has no reason to stand aside.Perrottet said he had not asked Ayres to stand aside over the trade job process, but conceded the saga – now entering its seventh week – was “politically challenging” and he accepted there were concerns among his colleagues.
“This is about the public having confidence in ministers that are undertaking their roles. As the deputy premier, I have a very high standard of my National Party ministers. I expect them to act with honesty and integrity,” he said.“This is a matter for the minister himself. This is about the public having confidence in ministers.
Ayres fiercely rejected he played any role in the process, insisting it was a public service decision over which he had no control, and rejecting“I’ve not done anything wrong. There is no reason for me to stand aside,” he said, adding he had no oversight of any selection panel reports.
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