Snouts in the trough is never a good look

Scandals about politicians milking the perks of office eventually come for all governments, but it is usually only when a government is on the wane when the rot sets in, writes James O’Doherty.

Jo Haylen has achieved in less than two years something that can take some governments a decade.

Scandals about politicians milking the perks of office eventually come for all governments.

But it is usually only when a government is on the wane when the rot sets in.

“Entitlement scandals are a third or fourth term problem,” one former minister told me this week.

There’s a good reason for that; when a narrative of snouts in the trough takes hold, the verdict from voters is swift.

It is bad enough for a minister to summon a taxpayer-funded driver and their Kia Carnival from Sydney to Caves Beach for a boozy winery lunch – something Premier Chris Minns instantly deemed “indefensible”.

Worse, though, was the fact that Haylen tried to get away with it.

Former NSW Minister for Transport Jo Haylen leaving her Marrickville home while under fire for using a government van to take her to a boozy Hunter Valley lunch, Photo Jeremy Piper

While Haylen owned up and apologised for sending her driver on a 13-hour, 446 kilometre journey for a birthday lunch, she had to go the moment she told the premier that the trip was a one-off.

In her mind, a trip to her then chief of staff’s Little Hartley property for lunch was fine, (as it was “work”), as was another winery jaunt where she and her husband had lunch, alone. That was fine because she was working in the car, apparently.

NSW Premier Chris Minns called Haylen’s abusing of perks “indefensible”. Picture Thomas Lisson

In conversations with the premier, she also defended repeated chauffeur rides from Caves Beach to Sydney for the Saturday sports run – as she happened to be going into work later that day.

“You don’t switch on and off from being a minister, you don’t switch off being a mum either,” she said when she resigned.

“Combining the two can be difficult but I’m far from alone when it comes to that daily challenge.”

But her argument that all her suspect trips were linked to work were never going to fly.

Haylen should have been upfront with her boss, and the public, rather than glibly declaring that she “could not recall” ever using her driver for trips that did not pass the pub test.

The “Van Haylen” saga is arguably the biggest single political blow to the Minns government since it took office; scandals about ministers using the trappings of office to their advantage are almost always the worst.

It has taken the scalp of one of Minns’ closest allies, and one of the government’s strongest parliamentary performers.

It has also left a gaping hole in a cabinet.

Transport is, arguably, the biggest and hardest of any portfolios in NSW.

As one observer puts it, in no other portfolio does the minister risk ruining a voter’s day twice on every day of the week.

The Daily Telegraph revealed Haylen had organised for her ministerial driver to take a party, which included Housing Minister Rose Jackson, from Ms Haylen’s Caves Beach holiday home to lunch at The Wood Restaurant at Brokenwood Estate (above).

The rail union is already seizing on the “opportunity” a new minister creates, launching a fresh round of industrial action just as John Graham gets his feet under the desk.

Filling the role permanently will be no easy task for Minns, nor will the resulting cabinet reshuffle.

Minns does not have a deep talent pool from which to choose.

The group of potential replacements is made even smaller by the fact that Haylen’s Left faction will demand she be replaced with another left-winger, most likely a female.

Haylen’s car capers have also extended down to Canberra, where at least some federal Labor MPs noticed how unforced errors can completely change the trajectory of a government.

Whether this saga completely derails the premier’s agenda or simply creates a small unwanted detour will depend on how deep the arrogance runs.

Despite changing the rules about ministerial drivers, there is now a risk that others will be exposed as taking the piss.

Minns read the riot act to the cabinet on Monday, saying that any other examples similar to the Hunter Valley wine trip “cannot happen again”.

He says that he was assured by his ministers that there was nothing “analogous” to Haylen’s boozy lunch with colleague Rose Jackson.

The Premier can perhaps take some solace that one source familiar with minister’s travel arrangements told me that Haylen was “unique” in her tendency to use drivers for long-distance trips with spurious links to her job.

While Mark Speakman could hardly contain himself this week when trying to insert himself into the story, Haylen’s downfall comes with a warning for the Liberal Leader.

As Opposition Leader, Speakman gets his own car and driver. Labor insiders are already warning that they are on the hunt for anything that reeks of hypocrisy from the Liberal Leader, who this week conceded – unprompted – that he has asked his driver to pick up his dry cleaning.

The urge to cash in on perks, it seems, is bipartisan.