Stephen Cartwright thanked John Barilaro for his “accessibility” and asked the thendeputy premier to let him know if his “knowledge, skills and experience can be of benefit to the Government in the future”, in a letter he wrote to advise he was standing down as the head of the state’s business chamber.
Writing that he had “thoroughly enjoyed” his time working on two state government boards, Cartwright encouraged Barilaro to contact him about other opportunities. Cartwright was appointed as the state’s senior trade commissioner to London in July the next year after officially departing the chamber in August 2020.
Broadbent then met Cartwright for a screening interview where, she said, he told her it “had been suggested to him” by Barilaro that he should apply. “In my first series of meetings with premier Rees it became clear that the NSW government, at that time, had little interest in hearing from the Chamber about the needs of business, and sadly this attitude continued during the administration of premier [Kristina] Keneally.”