The New South Wales premier has defended his transport minister Jo Haylen, saying he does not believe she breached the ministerial code by initially not declaring a political donation to her campaign from the former staffer she later chose to lead her department.
Chris Minns on Tuesday confirmed he was made aware of the $500 donation to Haylen’s campaign “a couple of days after” Josh Murray was publicly announced as the NSW transport secretary.
Minns said the donation had not been disclosed to the selection panel that Haylen had set up to interview candidates for the role before she ultimately chose Murray.
But the premier said he believed Haylen had followed the correct process, backing her decision to appoint Murray.
“I don’t believe that purchasing a ticket to a fundraising dinner constitutes the minister being influenced in terms of her public duty,” he said.
The donation was revealed in documents released to NSW parliament.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, accused Haylen of a breach of the ministerial code for not disclosing a potential conflict of interest to the premier. “The premier and Jo Haylen have an opportunity to come clean with the public,” Speakman said.
“Show us what she declared and show us what was the nature of the approval that the premier gave and what arrangements he had put in place to manage the conflict.”
Murray’s appointment to the almost $600,000 role has come under scrutiny after Haylen revealed her office intervened to add her pick to the list of candidates before she made the final decision to hire him.
Minns has conceded the $125,000 recruitment process was unnecessary given Haylen ended up picking who she wanted, rather than going off the advice of the selection panel.
The premier on Tuesday confirmed he was first made aware of the donation via a brief sent to his office “a couple of days after” Murray was appointed.
Haylen denied breaching the code, insisting she did not have a conflict of interest when she selected Murray.
“I’ve answered all the questions that I’ve been asked truthfully. We’ve been really honest and open here,” she told 2GB on Tuesday morning. “We’ve made the declarations we were required to make.
“I’d never give a senior public service job, a really important job, to someone just because they made a $500 donation to my campaign. That’s absurd.”
Speakman called for Haylen to face a parliamentary inquiry into Murray’s appointment and called on Murray to step down, saying he never should have been appointed and that it would be “in the public interest” for him to resign.
The deputy Liberal leader, Natalie Ward, said the government had wasted taxpayer money on a “sham recruitment process”.
