One Nation could revive NSW trade posts scrapped in 'jobs for the boys' saga

Overseas trade commissioner jobs could be revived if One Nation wins NSW election, Mike Newman says In short: MIke Newman, One Nation's NSW leader, says he will consider bringing back the overseas trade commissioner roles if his party wins next year's state election. Mr Newman says NSW "can't be the hermit kingdom". What's next? The NSW premier starts a four-day visit to India from tomorrow to "attract investment". One Nation NSW leader Mike Newman has said he would consider bringing back overseas trade commissioners if elected next year. Mr Newman, 54, the party's candidate for Cessnock, was the state's senior trade and investment commissioner in Tokyo from 2022 to 2024. The Minns government scrapped the roles when it came to power following a "jobs for the boys" scandal involving former deputy premier John Barilaro's appointment to the New York position. The veteran investment banker, a critic of the state's "bloated" bureaucracy, told the ABC it was a mistake to get rid of the trade posts. "I commend the Minns government, to be honest, for living up to an election promise. I'll give them that," Mr Newman said. "But I think what they did was capture what was a scandal and turn it into perhaps a poorer decision. "If I'd still been the senior trade and investment commissioner during Minns's term to date, he would have been harangued by me constantly to have gone into Japan, Korea, India. "You can't be the hermit kingdom." 'Too many public servants' During his announcement as leader on Friday, Mr Newman pledged cuts to the state's public service, which he said was the largest in the southern hemisphere. "There is so much money and waste that is inside the public service," he said on Friday. "Having worked inside, I saw firsthand how your money is being misallocated and misspent." But in an interview with the ABC on Saturday, Mr Newman said the trade commissioners were valuable, and he would seek to reinstate the roles. "If One Nation has the opportunity to lead, I would definitely look at doing something similar to that, but as I said I want to bring experienced people from the private sector," Mr Newman said. The trade commissioners were paid a salary of about $487,000 plus allowances, according to a parliamentary committee report in 2023. The committee reported that the six posts cost taxpayers $12.7 million in 2021-22. Asked whether bringing back the jobs would increase the size of the bureaucracy, Mr Newman said he wanted to hire people that want to serve their state. "When I talk about the bloated bureaucracy, I'm saying there are too many public servants, especially amongst those in the senior executive class, who basically see this as a self-serving situation. "Put it this way, I could have done five times as much business [as trade commissioner] on one-fifth the number of staff." Tomorrow, Premier Chris Minns begins a four-day visit to India to "attract investment", his first overseas trip as the state's leader, and one Mr Newman said he should have made much earlier. On Saturday, Mr Minns said he was "pretty impressed" by Mr Newman's candour. "He seems like he's going to say what's at the top of his head. I think it's going to be very difficult for Pauline [Hanson] to muzzle him," Mr Minns said. "I think he's going to say whatever he wants to say. I think that's a good part of politics, I welcome him to the debate."