Haylen used taxpayer-funded chauffeur for kids’ weekend sports run

The ministerial career of NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen is in the balance after it emerged she dispatched her taxpayer-funded driver to repeatedly collect her from her Caves Beach holiday house for personal trips, including a boozy lunch and taking her children to weekend sport in Sydney.

As Premier Chris Minns said Haylen would not be sacked over her use of ministerial drivers, Labor MPs were questioning whether the Summer Hill MP could survive after it was revealed she booked a driver on a 13-hour, 446-kilometre round-trip for a three-hour lunch in the Hunter Valley on the Australia Day long weekend.

A source familiar with government travel arrangements, who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely, said Haylen had also booked a ministerial driver to take her from Caves Beach to Sydney, allowing her to drop her children to Saturday sport on several occasions.

Jo Haylen (right) and Rose Jackson took a taxpayer-funded private trip to a Hunter Valley winery over the Australia Day long weekend.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The return trip from Sydney to Caves Beach is about 300 kilometres, or a 3.5-hour round trip. Haylen’s office did not deny the trips took place. Later on Monday, News Corp reported Haylen had also used a ministerial driver to take her and her family on a 240-kilometre round-trip for a private weekend lunch in the Blue Mountains.

The fresh details heaped added pressure on Haylen, who was already staring down calls from the Coalition to resign over her decision to use a government driver to take herself, Housing Minister Rose Jackson, their husbands plus two other guests to a three-hour lunch at Brokenwood winery on January 25.

The driver’s 13-hour trip from Sydney was technically within the rules, which allow for personal travel, but Haylen admitted her decision was a “mistake” and “doesn’t meet the pub test”. She has committed to paying back the cost of the transportation, determined by the Premier’s Department to be $750.

Late on Monday, senior government advisors were insisting that the guidelines for the use of ministerial drivers were vague and broad, meaning Haylen had not breached any rules therefore should not face punishment.

The premier has already committed to looking to amend the ministerial code to explicitly bar such private trips from happening again.

Earlier on Monday, Minns said he had made clear to both Haylen and Jackson that he “personally regarded” it as a “massive error of judgment”, saying the winery lunch trip gave the government a poor reputation, with many members of the community rightly unhappy with the behaviour.

“Having spoken to her [Haylen] over the last couple of days, she fully acknowledges this was a shocker, a major mistake, and I believe [her] when she says she’s not going to do it again … I think that there’s been a singular, a massive, but singular lapse here, and I think it was probably absent-minded of her, not malicious,” he said.

If Minns sacked Haylen or if she resigned, it would prompt the first reshuffle of Minns’ cabinet since the election.

Premier Chris Minns has said Transport Minister Jo Haylen’s lapse in judgment was “absent-minded … not malicious”.Credit: Steven Siewert

Despite her apology and backing from the premier, Haylen has pulled out of the Tuesday’s annual Sydney Summit, hosted by think tank Committee for Sydney.

The scandal comes less than 18 months after Haylen faced calls to resign after she parachuted a Labor-aligned ally into an apolitical department liaison role in her office. The minister denied wrongdoing, but her then-chief of staff left his role during the scandal.

Labor MPs who spoke to this masthead on the condition of anonymity said the latest blunder was unforgivable, questioning whether she could survive as pressure mounted. One MP, speaking before the fresh revelations emerged, said she could only be further mishap away from being axed.

Another MP said the incident would be a test for whether Haylen’s close relationship with the premier would protect her from being sacked. The fact no rules had been broken by Haylen could save her, a government backbencher said.

In NSW, government ministers and the opposition leader are granted the use of a ministerial vehicle and driver.

Despite his displeasure, and his belief the driver had been “treated with disrespect”, neither Haylen nor Jackson would face repercussions over the incident, Minns said, and there would be no change to their use of taxpayer-funded ministerial vehicles.

“I appreciate that this is a major error, big lapse of judgment, and I’m confident, and I’m hopeful, and I’ve told them both that I expect that they’ll learn from this mistake and that they won’t repeat it,” he said.

“The truth of the matter is that both of them are in big portfolios, and that I believe we need continuity in those jobs. We still have to run these big agencies with complicated problems associated with them, and I need ministers who [have] got experience under their belt and focused on the job at hand.”

Transport Minister Jo Haylen’s holiday house in Caves Beach.

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman continued to call for Haylen and Jackson to be sacked, saying the decision was a test of Minns’ leadership and integrity.

Speakman conceded he had used his driver to collect his dry cleaning during work hours, arguing the assignment was acceptable given they otherwise would have been idle.

“But if that is part of your remuneration package, and you’re not costing the taxpayer anything, then it’s clearly different from spending the amount of money that was spent here, sending a van and a driver up to the Hunter Valley for a boozy lunch,” he said.

In a statement, Haylen said: “Yesterday I made clear that my use of a ministerial driver last weekend was not right. I made the wrong decision. I am paying back the cost.”

“I am not going to provide a running commentary on my movements since becoming a minister. I have attended hundreds, if not more, events since becoming a minister. I acknowledged over the weekend that all of my government vehicle use has been within the formal guidelines. The guidelines cover vehicle and driver use for public and private events. The guidelines are now subject to review. I support this review.”

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