The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has defended his transport minister, Jo Haylen, after the resignation of her chief of staff in the midst of a staffing scandal.
Minns said NSW residents were more concerned about trains and buses running on time than they were about internal staffing matters, which were under investigation by the department.
But he conceded things could have been done “differently and better” in the office.
On Friday it was revealed Haylen’s chief of staff, Scott Gartrell, resigned from his position after a staffer who was employed in an apolitical role had engaged in political work while seconded in the office as a departmental liaison officer.
Haylen on Sunday said she would not be following Gartrell out the door even if her staffer, Kieran Ash, was found to have breached public service guidelines.
The minister said she referred the matter to the department after being made aware of the emails on Friday.
“This is a small number of internal emails which may have blurred the lines between these public servants and obligations,” she said.
“As soon as these issues were brought to my attention... I referred them to his employer for investigation.”
Haylen said Gartrell’s resignation was a chance to “reset” the office, acknowledging that “we could have done things better”.
Minns said on Sunday the department was in need of major reform and he had in place the “right minister to do the job”.
“There’ll be an inquiry about a relatively junior transport adviser in her office, but I just want to assure the taxpayers and people in NSW, we’re focused on the big game,” he said.
“We don’t think transport has been run well, historically, [and] we’re determined to turn that around.”
“Do I want [Haylen’] to resign off the back of this? No, absolutely not.”
He said that any possible wrongdoing relating to the hiring and management of the staffer would be “looked into, but no, I don’t think it’s resignation-worthy”.
Minns said he had spoken with Haylen multiple times since Friday and they agreed that things could have been done “differently and better”, but would not say if the minister knew the staffer had been undertaking political work.
Gartrell handed in his resignation after reports emerged he had cherrypicked junior public servant Ash to be seconded to Haylen’s team from the department. He then engaged in political work.
Ash was seconded into Haylen’s office from the transport department after he was the campaign manager for Philippa Scott’s unsuccessful political run for the inner-west seat of Balmain during the March state election.
The opposition transport spokesperson, Natalie Ward, said the premier was “taking the people of NSW for mugs” and called for Haylen to stand down.
“If ministers are accountable for the conduct of their offices, Minister Haylen is accountable for hers,” Ward said.
“She needs to do the honourable thing and resign.”
Haylen has already faced intense criticism over her appointment of department secretary, Josh Murray.
• This article was amended on 6 November 2023 to make clear Kieran Ash was the campaign manager for Labor’s candidate for Balmain, not the candidate himself.
