John Barilaro is currently on leave from state parliament due to mental health issues. Photo: File.
Deputy Premier and Member for Monaro John Barilaro will lose his driver’s licence after allegedly committing a number of speeding and mobile phone offences in his ministerial car days before he announced he would be taking leave to help deal with mental health issues.
The Daily Telegraph broke the story earlier this evening (8 October). A spokeswoman for Mr Barilaro told the paper: “As is absolutely appropriate, the Deputy Premier will pay any fines and cop all penalties associated with the driving infringements.”
On 18 September, Mr Barilaro announced he would be taking four weeks’ leave to take care of his mental health.
A spokesperson for Mr Barilaro told Region Media at the time “it has been a big year for him” and that he made the decision after an equally big week in which he survived a no-confidence motion in the NSW Parliament.
“He is just taking four weeks to look after his mental health,” the spokesperson said. “This year has been a really tough year and he’s just going to take some time off to regroup.”
In July, Mr Barilaro’s father Domenico died.
It is understood that Mr Barilaro’s office is considering a formal complaint to NSW Police about the release of information about the offences to the newspaper.
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