Former deputy premier John Barilaro helped his staff member-turned-girlfriend secure a job at Investment NSW but insisted he had made no decisions about his political future when he sought to change the recruitment process for trade commissioners.
The journalist spearheaded the first official Canberra bureau of AAP more than 50 years ago and served as press secretary to Malcolm Fraser for seven years.
The former deputy premier is fronting the parliamentary inquiry into his appointment to a plum trade post in New York today, as Premier Dominic Perrottet enters a politically dangerous sitting week.