Premier Chris Minns stands by embattled Transport Minister Jo Haylen during staff controversy
Premier Chris Minns has come under fire for vowing to standby his embattled Transport Minister Jo Haylen, with the Opposition saying his lofty promises to bring transparency back to government are falling flat amid the staffing saga enveloping his Ministry.
NSW
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Premier Chris Minns has come under fire for vowing to standby his embattled Transport Minister Jo Haylen, with the Opposition saying his lofty promises to bring transparency back to government are falling flat amid the staffing saga enveloping his Ministry.
Mr Minns on Monday said there was “nowhere near” enough reason to sack Ms Haylen after documents revealed a staffer in her office, Kieren Ash, undertook political work – including organising a barbecue celebrating Labor’s election victory.
Mr Ash was temporarily employed by Ms Haylen in a strictly non-political role at the time, despite the former staffer previously running for Labor in the 2015 election and managing the 2023 Labor campaign in Balmain.
The Premier insists Ms Haylen hasn’t breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct but he hasn’t asked her whether she knew a public servant in her office was blatantly flouting the rules.
On Monday the Premier acknowledged Mr Ash clearly breached rules forbidding him from doing political work.
Despite that, Mr Minns again backed the Minister – saying any breach regarding Mr Ash was “nowhere near” enough reason to sack her.
“That is nowhere near enough of a reason to remove a committed and extremely hardworking transport minister who’s charged with a herculean task, and that is to turn around the transport department in New South Wales,” he said.
Only three months ago Mr Minns declared his party was “elected … with a promise to restore trust and integrity to public matters and public life” after swiftly sacking Tim Crakanthorp from cabinet over undisclosed property interests regarding his family.
Shadow transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said if Mr Minns wants a “shred of credibility” he should be “calling (Ms Haylen) to come clean on this”.
The latest blow-up comes as Ms Haylen will face budget estimates – an annual grilling of government Ministers by Opposition MPs – on Tuesday.
Police Minister Yasmin Catley will face budget estimates at the same time, following a tenure where she has already been placed under pressure for her handling of a pro-Palestine march which dissolved into an ugly protest at the Opera House, and over the death of great-grandmother Clare Nowland after she was tasered by police.
‘Big job’: Why Minns won’t move on embattled Transport Minister
Earlier, Mr Minns told talkback radio Jo Haylen’s role as transport Minister is safe due to the massive portfolio she holds, saying he won’t move her on because there is too much to be done in the transport space.
Mr Minns on Monday defended Ms Haylen, who is enveloped in a staffing controversy over the hiring of a junior staffer into an apolitical role into her office.
Documents released to NSW Parliament on Friday appear to show he engaged in political work including tasking an artificial intelligence machine to write speeches favouring Labor and critical of the Coalition.
Ms Haylen on Friday announced the transport department would be tasked with investigating what duties the staffer undertook.
“Obviously that will be investigated, and we await the outcome of that inquiry but she’s got a big job in front of (her) in particular, the maintenance backlog on the train system which is making it very difficult for people to get to and from work on time, as well as overruns in (the) infrastructure side of the transport department and I want her to get on with that job so I don’t see and I haven’t seen evidence that would see her stand down or resign,” Mr Minns said.
“I want her to continue to do the work on behalf of the people in New South Wales.”
Talking to 2GB’s Ray Hadley, Mr Minns also rejected there was any similarities to jailed former Labor MPs Ian Macdonald and Eddie Obeid.
“I think that drawing a parallel between the actions of (Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald), two people that are sitting in jail for what would be widely described as massive systemic corruption, is completely different to having a departmental liaison officer who was appointed by the previous government in the minister’s office,” he said.
“Now I’m not saying that best practice was followed here, and obviously we want to see the results of the inquiry.”
Minister quiet on staffer’s moves
Under-attack Transport Minister Jo Haylen has refused to rule out whether she was aware a junior staffer was undertaking political work in her office despite him being strictly forbidden from doing so, in a potential breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct which has left the MP clinging to political survival.
The Minister on Sunday also refused to clarify whether she pushed for Kieren Ash, a NSW Transport worker with long-term Labor links, to be seconded to her office in a role supposed to be apolitical.
It comes following a trove of documents being released to NSW Parliament which show Mr Ash – who has previously run for Labor in Pittwater and earlier this year managed Labor’s Balmain election campaign – undertaking work that could be considered political, including organising a barbecue celebrating Labor’s election victory.
The documents released Friday also reveal Mr Ash declared he was responsible for “general mischief” in Ms Haylen’s office.
In a “handover” email before he took leave, Mr Ash suggested a range of people who could “cover (his) responsibilities”.
“General mischief,” he suggested, could be handled by “all”.
In one email, Kieran Ash appeared to be trying to set up an artificial intelligence robot to write responses for his Minister.
He wanted the robot to summarise the Minns government’s record in a “positive tone” while casting a “negative tone” on the Opposition.
Mr Ash announced his secondment on social media earlier this year, with the Minister responding with three love hearts under the post.
The release of the documents on Friday triggered the resignation of her chief of staff Scott Gartrell, with Ms Haylen ordering an investigation into work undertaken by Mr Ash under her employment.
The investigation will be managed by the transport department, which itself is helmed by secretary Josh Murray – whose appointment earlier this year triggered a political storm after it was revealed he had long-term Labor links, had donated previously to Ms Haylen’s election campaign, and had been backed for an interview during the hiring process by Ms Haylen’s chief of staff.
Ms Haylen, talking publicly for the first time since the documents were released, said on Sunday she wouldn’t resign even if the investigation she ordered into Mr Ash’s employment had adverse findings.
She also wouldn’t clarify if she had directed her chief of staff Mr Gartrell to hire Mr Ash.
“We’re talking about the very early days of government. These processes were managed by my office. As I’ve said, we were impatient and …(were) trying to get on with the job and we’ve learnt some lessons from it,” she said.
Mr Ash was seconded from his NSW Transport job to Mr Haylen’s office as a department liaison officer (DLO), which is meant to be an apolitical role forbidden from doing any work which could be seen to be political.
“These are a small number of internal emails which may have blurred the lines between this public servant’s … responsibility under the DLO circular,” Ms Haylen said.
“(For) any minister, CEO, boss … it’s completely unreasonable to assume that they knew about every single email that was going in and out of their office. That's an unreasonable expectation.”
Premier Chris Minns on Sunday attempted to water down the political firestorm enveloping
Ms Haylen, saying he didn’t want her to resign despite the controversy.
“There’s a lot going on in that department, and I want to focus on the big issues and I promise you that’s what majority of people in NSW want as well,” he said.
“In terms of her responsibilities … she’s already made what I believe to be big decisions … which will have a positive impact. And I want that to continue. So if the question is, do I want her to resign (off) the back of this? No, absolutely not.”
Ms Haylen is due to face budget estimates on Tuesday, where she will be hit with a barrage of questions from Opposition MPs about what she knew regarding actions taken by Mr Ash.
Labor last year took aim over the Coalition over their own ‘jobs for the boys’ scandal – with Labor MPs prosecuting the appointment of former deputy Premier John Barilaro to a trade commissioner role he created as an MP.
Shadow Transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward on Sunday slammed Ms Haylen’s directive the investigation into Mr Ash be undertaken by the transport department helmed by Mr Murray.
“You don't get your Labor mate Josh Murray, who you’ve just appointed, to investigate your appointment of another Labor mate,” she said.
“Either the ministerial code applies or it doesn't. And this is a clear breach of the code.”
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