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NewsBarilaro - a pollie with his snout in a trough of his own making? Or a victim?
Barilaro - a pollie with his snout in a trough of his own making? Or a victim?

Barilaro - a pollie with his snout in a trough of his own making? Or a victim?

Tags: Cost of Living
Last updated by Chris Zinn on

Source: 9News

The phrase more fun than a barrel full of monkeys has some irony in the latest “snouts in the trough” saga to paralyse the NSW parliament.

The surname Barilaro in Italian refers to the proud tradition and occupational name for a cooper or maker of barrels and, funnily enough, wooden troughs.

But the besieged former deputy premier John Barilaro cannot be having much fun being ridiculed and copping it - literally from both barrels - in a classic job-for-the-boys scandal.

The finer details are contested, but the one-time National leader quit politics in December 2021 and hey presto, by June, he was appointed as the state's trade commissioner in New York.

Forget the inconvenient fact that a highly qualified woman had already been offered the $500,000 per annum gig.

What's your favourite Australian political scandal, and do you believe the perpetrators paid the price or got away with it? 

There's a rich field from which to choose.

The Barilaro stink has been rising for almost two months, sparked two inquiries, caused the former trade minister's resignation and severely damaged NSW premier Dominic Perrottet.

The biggest joke is it has all happened in the state before, which has a long and celebrated history of nepotism or corruption (read more here if you can bear it), and only last year lost premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Her fall from grace was due to misplaced faith in a shonky MP with whom she enjoyed many a secret Rendez Vous.   

The government she led was also considering reinstating the dormant but very plum post of the London Agent General; a role abolished in 1993 after an expenses scandal.

In that case, a former Liberal minister Neil Pickard got the quasi-diplomatic job as a sweetener for losing his seat in a redistribution. He lost it through indiscreet and excessive spending on the public purse.

You can nudge your memory with a list of mainly federal scandals here, and yes - monkeys may well come to mind.

I’m interested to know what FiftyUps think about this latest scandal. Do you share the outrage? Or have you just come to expect self-interest to trump public interest when it comes to some pollies?
 

Originally posted on .

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Wendy
Wendy from NSW commented:

If you are going to use FiftyUp as a political podium then take me off your list. I want no more to do with you. 

ken
ken from NSW commented:

Always liked him still do media get off his back 

Russell
Russell from VIC commented:

Yep. He's a scumbag. "Scum" meaning a layer of sludge or grime and "bag" meaning something in which to put your ill-gotten winnings. Another example of a politician in Parliament to feather his own nest at the expense of those he is paid to represent. One didn't need to wait for this latest implausible New York disclosure to realise what this gut is all about. 

Brian
Brian from NSW commented:

Both of the above, Chris. I do expect this behaviour from politicians and I still get outraged when it happens. Barilaro is part of a classic jobs-for-the-boys scam and then he runs off crying "mental health issues" to try and hide from the resulting furore. He did just the same when he split the coalition government over the koalas affair. Gladys then called his bluff and he took at least a month off on full pay and benefits until it died down. His mental capacities weren't taxed too much when he recently went to court and received a nice little payout for defamation. This is the quality of the people running the state. What hope have we got? 

Someone
Someone from VIC commented:

This bloke has been threatening to destroy the NSW Government since he injected himself into the Eden-Monaro bye-election a couple of years ago and now he's just about succeeded. Added to the disgraceful way in which he was initially offered a job that thad already been offered to another applicant is the fact that this new girlfriend (who, he claims laughably, he only started with after he had retired) previously worked for him and was working for the Government Department that offered him the job. A disgraceful situation further inflamed by the claims of mental health problems he is now making. 

Geoff
Geoff from NSW commented:

Agree it is disgrace that our politicians are continually making decisions to further their own benefits from very questionable decisions. I do however think that the Gladys saga was a shame that she got mixed up with another political who took advantage of their relationship, which brought her down. This was unfortunate as she was the best and most sincere Premier or any political that we have seen for some considerable time. I also believe that the most disgraceful is those politicians who have manipulated contracts, sales and mining licenses etc for own massive financial advantage. We have see a lot of this type of behaviour as a result of ICAC investigations and charges, in some cases resulting in jail time. 

Geoffrey
Geoffrey from NSW commented:

Most definitely a pollie with his snout in the trough, you only had to look at the heritage horse act that his old National Party mate helped him write and get through Parliament. Why would you protect feral horses in a National Park?, why not rabbits? They helped feed thousands during the depression and were also used to make all the slouch hats for the soldiers during the wars, Was it because his old National Party mate runs a horse riding business that shows the so called "Brumbies" running wild in the K.N.P. 

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