Need to get to your inquiry transport minister? Here’s an idea

If besieged Jo Haylen had agreed to attend the inquiry into why she hired a Labor donor as NSW’s transport boss she would have been spoilt for choice on how to get there. We show her how.

Besieged Transport Minister Jo Haylen cut short a press conference about why she hired a Labor donor as the state’s transport boss after declaring she was “answerable to the public,” before refusing to attend parliamentary probe into the scandal.

Ms Haylen - who refused to apologise for wasting $125,000 on a recruitment process she now acknowledges was “lacklustre” - refused to front a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday, declaring she is “not answerable to the Upper House”.

That is despite previously agreeing that she would front and answer questions from anybody on why she appointed former Labor staffer Josh Murray to a $588,000-per-year job.

She also previously agreed that she would appear before a parliamentary inquiry.

Ms Haylen called an 8am press conference at Central Station on Thursday to spruik the government’s “rail repair plan”.

After she was peppered with questions over Mr Murray’s appointment, she cut the press conference short at 8.29am.

Under fire.... NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen cut short press conference on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The inquiry in state parliament began at 9.15am with Mr Murray the first witness.

Ms Haylen had been invited to appear after lunch.

If Ms Haylen had agreed to attend the inquiry, she would have been spoilt for choice on how to get there before the questioning began.

The easiest route would have been to take the T4 line to Bondi Junction. The 8.45am train would have delivered the Minister to Martin Place four minutes later after stopping at Town Hall. From there, it is a six minute walk to parliament’s front doors.

The minister could have taken the T4 line to Bondi Junction. The 8.45am train would have delivered the Minister to Martin Place four minutes later.

A hop on the bus would have taken 20 minutes.

The easiest route would have been the T4 line.

A brisk walk from Central to the Parliament House inquiry would take 25-35 minutes

Ms Haylen could have taken her chauffeur-driven government car for the 10-15 minute trip.

Ms Haylen could have walked through the Central’s Grand Concourse to Pitt Street and hopped on the 438X bus route, which would have dropped her off on Elizabeth Street at Martin Place.

Public transport may have been faster than driving, because traffic was fairly heavy on Thursday morning.

However Ms Haylen could have taken her chauffeur-driven government car up Wentworth Street and College Street around the back of Hyde Park. That would have taken about 15 minutes.

Jo Haylen’s quick exit at Central Station on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Walking the two kilometre distance would have taken about 25-30 minutes at a brisk pace.

As recently as Monday, Ms Haylen declared she was happy to answer questions about the process that recruited Mr Murray.

However she declined the invitation to appear at Thursday’s hearing citing “convention” that Ministers do not appear before upper house inquiries.

Ms Haylen refused to apologise either to voters or to the Premier for the saga surrounding Mr Murray’s appointment, but acknowledged that “hindsight is a wonderful thing”.

However, she stood by the recruitment process, saying the government “wanted to test the market in order to make sure we had the right candidate for this job”.

She refused to say who else was invited to apply by her office.

NSW Transport Secretary Josh Murray appears at the inquiry on Thursday. Picture: John Appleyard

Ms Haylen would not explicitly say why she believed Mr Murray was a better candidate than top bureaucrat Benedicte Colin, but said she needed someone who she could “trust” as her secretary.

She said Mr Murray had the “experience, temperament, intelligence, and determination” for the role.

She also rejected suggestions that she should have disclosed that Mr Murray and his wife donated $750 to her re-election campaign.

“It is ridiculous to assert that a couple of tickets to a dinner would influence me to appoint someone to a public service position,” she said.