NSW’s new Transport for NSW secretary ‘didn’t have experience required’, recruiter warned

The state’s Transport Minister has denied lying about how Transport for NSW’s new boss was recruited, in an extraordinary escalation of the scandal surrounding ex-Labor staffer Josh Murray’s appointment to the role.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen has denied an accusation that she lied about how the NSW transport boss was recruited, in an extraordinary escalation of the scandal surrounding former Labor staffer Josh Murray’s appointment to the role.

Ms Haylen on Thursday claimed her chief of staff Scott Gartrell “did not tell the independent panel who to interview”.

However, documents tabled to parliament on Wednesday revealed Mr Gartrell said “Josh Murray should be interviewed” for the $588,250 per-year job as Transport for NSW secretary.

Mr Gartrell said an initial shortlist of candidates was “pretty underwhelming … Josh Murray should be interviewed as well”.

That feedback was in response to a progress report from headhunting firm NGS Global, which said Mr Murray did not have the “level of operational complexity required for this role”.

He was listed as a candidate that had “some relevance” or was “under review”.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen has denied lying in her account of the recruitment process. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Later, NGS Global warned Mr Murray’s appointment would be a “significant risk”.

Ms Haylen said she “rejects” that assessment.

Ms Haylen said Mr Gartrell “was asked for input … on an initial list of candidates”.

“He did not tell the independent panel who to interview,” she said.

Liberal Roads spokeswoman Natalie Ward on Thursday accused Ms Haylen of telling a “blatant lie”.

“Every time the Minister opens her mouth the story changes,” Ms Ward said.

“Her statement today that her chief of staff did not tell the panel who to interview is a blatant lie.”

Pressed on whether she wanted to correct that statement, Ms Haylen said her chief of staff was “making a suggestion” on who should be interviewed for the job but “it was not up to him”.

Mr Gartrell pushed for Mr Murray to be interviewed after sending him the job listing after it was advertised.

The Daily Telegraph revealed that the two men exchanged texts about the job during the recruitment process, including after Mr Murray applied for the job.

Mr Murray on Thursday also called into question the work of the headhunting firm, telling 2GB that NGS Global thought he was applying for a different job, then got his name wrong.

“So I was concerned, having worked in high level executive recruitment around the world,” he said.

Transport boss defends appointment to $588K gig

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Murray admitted the role was shared with him “by a number of people” but said all the correct procedures were followed prior to his appointment.

“It was shared with me by a large number of people when it went live because of my experience in the transport sector,” he told Ben Fordham on 2GB on Thursday.

“I’m not going to go through that because it was a range of people but I think some of that has been captured in the papers.

“It was shared with me after it had gone public and everyone had access to it, so I can only assume that it was given to a number of people.”

When asked if the chief of staff from Jo Haylen’s office shared the job with him, Murray said, “Yes that’s correct”.

“I received an update from the chief of staff saying that the job was live,” he said.

“I can’t commit on that process, the work that we’ve done here, I’ve gone through all of those steps.

“When any recruitment process happens, we get to a point where people make a selection on who’s going to go into that role.”

Transport Minister Jo Haylen (right), pictured with Premier Chris Minns, said Mr Murray “has the experience and capability necessary” to do the job. Picture: NCA NewsWire

It comes after the recruitment company hired to find NSW’s new transport boss warned Mr Murray did not have the experience required and that appointing him would be a “significant risk”, according to bombshell government documents tabled to parliament.

The documents reveal Transport Minister Jo Haylen chose Mr Murray to be her department’s secretary despite an independent evaluation panel finding that he was not the best candidate for the $588,250 per-year job.

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal Mr Murray, a former Labor staffer turned Laing O’Rourke executive, spoke to Ms Haylen’s chief of staff Scott Gartrell about the recruitment process before he got the job of Transport for NSW secretary.

“Thanks for checking in. I had an email from NGS Global last Friday confirming they had all my materials,” Mr Murray texted Mr Gartrell on May 23.

Mr Murray had applied four days earlier.

Ms Haylen is under increasing pressure from the Coalition to defend the appointment, which came after a “merit-based selection process” was put in place.

The Coalition is set to call for a parliamentary inquiry to probe whether Ms Haylen or her office improperly intervened in the selection process to ensure Mr Murray got the job.

Mr Murray was only added to the shortlist of candidates considered by an independent panel after Ms Haylen’s chief of staff Mr Gartrell pushed for him to be interviewed.

According to a progress report from recruitment firm NGS Global, Mr Murray did not have the “level of operational complexity required for this role”.

Despite that, Mr Gartrell wanted him to progress to the next recruitment stage.

He said the shortlist of candidates was “pretty underwhelming … (and) Josh Murray should be interviewed as well”.

New Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray.

Top transport exec Howard Collins was an unsuccessful candidate for the role.

After he was interviewed, NGS Global advised that appointing Mr Murray would likely be a “significant risk” because he did not have “large-scale strategic, operational or people leadership experience”.

The assessment was attached in an email to Ms Haylen asking for her to pick between two potential candidates at the end of the evaluation process.

The top-ranked candidate was senior Transport executive Benedicte Colin, who was deemed “highly suitable”.

Mr Murray was ranked second, found to be “very suitable”, according to the documents.

Mr Murray was also appointed before completing the required background checks.

NGS Global never completed the “pre-employment checks” which included checking any private interests. The process was only completed after Mr Murray had been appointed.

Transport bureaucrat Howard Collins, who until Monday was acting as the department’s secretary, also applied.

A spokesman for Ms Haylen said her office “worked with DPC (Department of Premier and Cabinet) as they oversaw the Transport secretary recruitment process”.

“The minister has always acted honestly and in accordance with the public interest,” he said.

Ms Haylen added: “I recommended the appointment of a secretary with years of experience at the top of Laing O’Rourke … Josh Murray has the experience and capability necessary to help me fix the mess left by the former government.”

The documents also lay out Mr Murray’s ascension to the transport secretary role, outlining how he started his career in journalism with multiple Queensland radio networks.

In 2001 he joined the NSW government as a ministerial adviser, before eventually being appointed in 2006 as deputy chief of staff to then-Labor Premier Morris Iemma, before being promoted to chief of staff.

He made the move to the private sector in 2008 with Laing O’Rourke, starting as a strategic business development executive, eventually moving up to the role of group director of people for the UK and Australia, a position he held while applying for the transport secretary role.

Analysis by the government’s recruitment firm NGS Global noted “that the secretary role was considerably more complex than Josh’s previous roles” but that he was “seen as a good decision-maker who had taken difficult decisions early in the initial stages of the Covid pandemic …(which) enabled the business to restart more quickly than competitors”.

It’s understood that Mr Murray beat out experienced transport bureaucrat Howard Collins, who has been the acting secretary of Transport NSW since April.

His CV included stints as the chief operations officer for Transport NSW, which included responsibility for the state’s rail, bus, light rail and ferry services.

He’d previously held the same role at the London Underground, as part of more than three decades working on the city’s transport network.