Kieren Ash disclosed his Labor campaign work just one week before the election

The public servant at the centre of embattled Transport Minister Jo Haylen’s staffing scandal emailed political attack lines for the minister to use in parliament.

The public servant at the centre of embattled Transport Minister Jo Haylen’s staffing scandal only disclosed he was helping to get a Labor candidate elected a week before the election, forcing his manager to impose a plan to “manage” the conflict of interest.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that Kieren Ash — who was seconded into Ms Haylen’s office in a non-political roles weeks after the election — only completed his “secondary employment application” seeking approval to work as a “campaign assistant” on Labor’s Balmain campaign just eight days before the election.

A month after the Minns government won office, Mr Ash was parachuted into Ms Haylen’s office, at the request of Ms Haylen’s chief of staff, where he engaged in political work banned under his job description.

The Telegraph can now reveal that Mr Ash emailed senior Haylen staff political attack lines to use against the Opposition in parliament.

In August, Mr Ash emailed lines for Ms Haylen to use attacking a Liberal MP Alister Henskens over his property disclosures. “I understand that Mr Henskens doesn’t declare any property in his register of interests … very interesting,” the lines said. The emails were released to parliament late on Thursday.

Former Pittwater Labor candidate Kieren Ash

A staffer in Premier Chris Minns’ office wrote the lines, before sending them to Mr Ash. Ms Haylen never delivered the attack.

In another email, Ms Haylen’s press secretary described Mr Ash as a fellow political “operative”.

Mr Ash was seconded to Ms Haylen’s office at the time as a “department liaison officer,” and banned from doing partisan work.

Before the election, he had been managing Labor’s campaign to win back Balmain.

In a “secondary employment application,” released via an order of parliament, Mr Ash disclosed on March 17 that he was working part time to get candidate Philippa Scott elected.

“I am a voluntary campaign assistant for Labor’s Balmain campaign,” he said.

Mr Ash said his campaign work had been “registered as a Conflict of Interest in accordance with TfNSW policy”.

The “new application,” as it was described, was dated March 17. That was just two days after Mr Ash’s involvement in the Balmain campaign was referenced in a Sydney Morning Herald report. The Telegraph understands that Mr Ash had previously disclosed his links to Labor, but his work on the Balmain campaign was only disclosed in March.

Ms Haylen’s chief of staff requested Mr Ash be seconded into her office weeks after the election. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Mr Ash said that the campaigning work would not interfere with his TfNSW role, and that he would not campaign during his ordinary working hours.

It was approved, but his manager said the agency would need to “convene regular discussions” about how the conflict of interest “will be managed”.

Three days after the election, on March 28, a senior department bureaucrat was told that Ms Haylen’s office was going to ask for Mr Ash to be sent on loan to the Minister.

“There are conventions in place which allow public servants to volunteer in political campaigns,” a TfNSW spokesman said.

Ms Haylen has repeatedly refused to say whether she knew Mr Ash was acting outside his remit as a DLO while in her office.

A series of public servants raised concerns about the work Mr Ash was doing, including acting Transport Secretary Howard Collins.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph can also reveal that two former staff for Liberal MP Mark Coure went on to work as DLOs in the Perrottet government.

The two Liberal-linked staffers were later hired in the public service, where they went on to be seconded into Ministerial offices.

Ms Haylen said the email showing Mr Ash was involved in political attacks was “one of a number of emails that have been referred by the Transport Minister’s office to TfNSW as part of an internal investigation”.

It’s understood the Liberal-linked DLOs went through a public sector recruitment process, unlike Mr Ash.