John Barilaro

Giovanni Domenic "John" Barilaro (born 14 November 1971 ) is an Australian former politician who served as the 18th deputy premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the National Party from 2016 to 2021.

Barilaro was elected as an independent councillor of Queanbeyan City Council in 2008 and served on the council until he ran for the National Party in the seat of Monaro at the 2011 state election.

He won the seat from incumbent Labor Minister Steve Whan with an 8.2-point swing to the Nationals.

Barilaro previously served as the Minister for Regional Development (later renamed Minister for Regional New South Wales ), Minister for Small Business, and Minister for Skills in the first Berejiklian and second Baird governments, from October 2014 until March 2019; and as the Minister for Regional Tourism in the first Baird government.

In October 2021, he announced his resignation as Deputy Premier, Leader of the National Party and member for Monaro, saying it was "the right time for me to hand the reins over".

He is also known for Barilaro v Shanks-Markovina, a defamation lawsuit brought against Jordan Shanks for Shanks' YouTube channel friendlyjordies, and Google as the publisher of the videos, as well as referring Shanks and a producer to the NSW Police Fixated Persons Unit, causing the producer, Kristo Langker, to be arrested on charges of stalking that were ultimately dismissed in March 2022.

The defamation lawsuit resulted in Shanks making an apology to Barilaro in 2021 along with editing some parts of the videos, while Google was ordered to pay him $715,000 in damages.

His attempt at a post-political career as the New South Wales trade commissioner to the United States resulted in a political scandal for NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, after a series of embarrassing disclosures over Barilaro's creation of the highly paid role prior to his departure from Parliament, and the role of NSW Government ministers and public servants in the process.

That process saw the originally successful applicant fired from her public service job.

An additional round of applications began, Barilaro was the second ranked candidate prior to discussions with his CV references.

He ultimately won the job and had his position confirmed but the scandal erupted in the middle of 2022 and he quit prior to moving to New York.

The issue was referred to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, and minister Stuart Ayres resigned from his cabinet role over the matter.

He attacked a cameraman in 2022; however, in February 2023, he was found not guilty due to mental illness.

Barilaro was born in Queanbeyan to immigrant parents from Calabria, Italy.

After leaving school he worked for his family's business, Ryleho, a business that manufactures energy-efficient timber windows and doors, eventually as manager.

He has campaigned within his local community for a high school for the growing suburb of Jerrabomberra, and helped found the Queanbeyan Macedonia Football Club (soccer), before serving for eight years as its club president.

Following the resignation of Andrew Stoner in October 2014, Barilaro was appointed to the first Baird ministry as the Minister for Small Business and the Minister for Regional Tourism.

Baird rearranged his ministry following the 2015 state election, and Barilaro was sworn in as the Minister for Regional Development, the Minister for Skills, and the Minister for Small Business in the second Baird government.

On 15 November 2016, Barilaro was elected unopposed as leader of the National Party in New South Wales, following the resignation of Troy Grant.

Following the resignation of Mike Baird and the election of Gladys Berejiklian as Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Barilaro led The Nationals to form the Liberal-National coalition in the Berejiklian ministry that was sworn in on 23 January 2017.

On 1 December 2017, Barilaro called for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to resign as a "Christmas gift" to Australians.

Turnbull subsequently accused Barilaro of "trying to ingratiate himself" with radio presenter Alan Jones.

Turnbull also stated he had called Barilaro and left a message after previous criticism, but had not heard back, and suggested Barilaro should have expressed his view to Turnbull personally, rather than "bagging [him] in the media".

Several federal ministers, including Julie Bishop and Mathias Cormann were also critical of Barilaro, with Cormann stating: "He is not a federal member of parliament, I don't know him, I have never met him, it is a regrettable comment, it is uncalled for, it is wrong, I reject it".

He was the Minister for Regional New South Wales, Industry and Trade in the second Berejiklian ministry from April 2019, and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electoral district of Monaro since 2011 until his resignation in October 2021.

Following the 2019 state election, Barilaro was sworn in as the Minister for Regional New South Wales, Industry and Trade in the second Berejiklian ministry, with effect from 2 April 2019.

In April 2020, Barilaro expressed anger at fellow Minister Don Harwin after revelations he had traveled to his Central Coast holiday house despite bans on non-essential travel.

Barilaro, who led the government's calls for 'city people to stay out of the regions' during the COVID-19 lockdowns, however, was accused of "gross hypocrisy" by members of his own government, after it was revealed he spent a weekend 'on the farm' building a cubby house with his daughter (a 7-bedroom French provincial estate).

Following an investigation into the incident, NSW Police ruled Barilaro did not breach coronavirus restrictions by making the trip and in a statement Barilaro said he went to the farm to "feed chickens, mow lawns and tend to maintenance".

In 2023, Barilaro faced criticism from the Auditor-General for his involvement in the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Program, which the auditor-general described as "lack[ing] integrity".

On 30 April 2020, Barilaro was considering stepping down from State politics to contest the federal seat of Eden-Monaro in its upcoming by-election, following Mike Kelly's immediate resignation from politics owing to personal and familial health issues, but later withdrew his interest.

He attributed the decision to a lack of support from Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, whom he accused of fearing him as a leadership rival.

Barilaro then apologised for his actions.

Barilaro sent minister Andrew Constance an abusive text message while Constance was deliberating running for the by-election.

Constance claims Barilaro's message convinced him "politics was stuffed", and he decided not to run.

In September 2020, Barilaro threatened to move the Nationals to the crossbench in opposition to the government's policy to protect koalas, while National ministers maintained their positions in cabinet.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian rejected the offer and gave Nationals ministers an ultimatum to withdraw their threat or be fired.

Barilaro subsequently backed down and kept his ministry, though the government later shelved the koala protection bill, viewed as a ‘win’ for the Nationals at the time, though a ‘regression’ for koala protection.

An effigy of Barilaro appeared at the 2021 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, depicting him as sitting inside a barrel; this was a reference to criticisms of "pork barrelling".

Barilaro had spoken favourably of being given the nickname "Pork Barilaro", saying that what is typically described as pork barrelling is "actually an investment".