James O’Doherty: Chris Minns fails to live up to high bar he set from opposition

Jo Haylen’s refusal to appear before a parliamentary committee is an act of hypocrisy, writes James O’Doherty.

Integrity scandals within his party are starting to rub some of the sheen off the man who came to power promising to be the Mr Clean of NSW politics.

Last year, Premier Chris Minns wrote of the need for all politicians to pursue “a continuous and relentless determination to place integrity at the heart of all your decisions and actions”.

Labor has learned the hard way, Minns wrote, of the need to pursue an “unwavering commitment to always be probing ourselves, and others, to ensure there is integrity in public life in NSW”.

Twelve months later, Minns has already sacked one minister over a secret property portfolio.

He is staring down calls to fire another for hiring a former Labor staffer and political donor to run the transport department — and wasting $125,000 on a useless recruitment exercise in the process.

Premier Chris Minns is sticking by embattled Transport Minister Jo Haylen. Picture: NCA Newswire

And, in one of his first moves of the new parliament, Minns also supported one of his best mates — Nationals MP Ben Franklin — for a plum parliamentary job in order to give his party a numbers advantage in the Upper House.

Labor faced accusations it was improperly supporting Franklin for Upper House president because he is also godfather to one of Chris Minns’ kids.

Chris Minns talked a big game on integrity before the election. Picture: NCA Newswire

When Minns dumped Tim Crakanthorp from the ministry over an undeclared property empire, the Premier declared that Labor was elected “with a promise to restore trust and integrity to public matters and public life”.

But now, less than a month later, one of Minns’ closest allies is refusing to front a parliamentary inquiry to explain why she spent $125,000 on headhunters to find a new transport boss only to hire the man she wanted in the first place.

When former Labor staffer Josh Murray’s appointment was announced, the government said he had been chosen after a “market testing and recruitment process” led by the acting public service boss, “in consultation” with the minister.

But the minister failed to mention that Murray was left off an initial short list because he lacked experience, then deemed to be a “significant risk” by recruiters, according to documents tabled in parliament.

New Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray.

Haylen also omitted the fact that her chief of staff sent Murray the job ad when it went live and checked in with him throughout the process.

Haylen’s refusal to attend an upper house probe into the matter is nothing other than hypocrisy.

Last year, when a similar probe was held into how John Barilaro was given a $500,000 per year trade job in New York, Labor’s upper house leader Penny Sharpe criticised Premier Dominic Perrottet for declining an invitation to appear.

Labor also criticised other Coalition MPs for failing to show up at integrity probes.

Now the shoe is on the other foot, Labor is doing exactly the same thing: arguing that, by “convention”, ministers do not need to front upper house inquiries.

Minns will continue to stare down calls to sack his Transport Minister — Haylen is a key member of the Premier’s Praetorian Guard.

But that loyalty comes with a price: the mud from this scandal is starting to stick.