Three donations to Labor and a 20-year friendship with the premier: what the Murray inquiry heard

The head of NSW Premier Chris Minns’ department says he would have sought legal advice had he been aware of donations made by hand-picked Transport Secretary Josh Murray to Transport Minister Jo Haylen’s election campaign.

A fiery upper house probe into Haylen’s appointment of Murray, a former Labor staffer, revealed donations totalling $1450 to the ALP across three separate events before his appointment.

Josh Murray appears at the inquiry on Thursday.Credit: Rhett Wyman

The parliamentary inquiry was established after a string of revelations emerged including that Haylen’s office had intervened to ensure Murray, once former premier Morris Iemma’s chief of staff, progressed through the recruitment process.

During Thursday’s hearing, Murray said that he and his wife, Davina Langton, had paid $500 for tickets to a Labor Party fundraising dinner at NSW Parliament, and another $200 for a raffle night to support Minns’ campaign.

The figures are in addition to the $750 Murray and Langton donated to Haylen’s election campaign last year.

Peter Duncan – the acting Secretary of the Department of Premier, and one of the three evaluation panel members as part of the recruitment – said the donations to her campaign had not been declared by Haylen.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has been friends with Josh Murray for 20 years, Murray told an inquiry on Thursday morning.Credit: Oscar Colman

“In a process like that, if that was declared to me, I would refer to for advice, particularly legal advice,” he said.

Murray, a former executive at construction giant Laing O’Rourke, said he had not disclosed the contributions in the recruitment process as he did not consider them material to it.

“They’re separate processes. I’ve always abided by the Electoral Act of NSW, and then I was being assessed for the job suitability by a Melbourne recruitment company,” Murray said.

The revelations came as Minns downplayed his friendship with Murray after the secretary revealed the relationship stretched back 20 years to when they both served as political staffers in a past Labor government.

NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen faced media after scrutiny over her appointment of a former staffer as transport secretary.Credit: Nick Moir

However, Minns said he believed his interactions with Murray amounted to “six times in the last decade”, and said he had no role in Murray’s appointment as transport secretary.

“I haven’t spoken to him about the job. I haven’t spoken to him about it as he was applying for it, or that it was up for grabs,” he said.

“I had no involvement with the decision to make him secretary of the Transport Department.”

Haylen’s appointment of Murray has come under intense scrutiny after revelations that the recruitment panel initially considered him a “significant risk” due to his lack of operational experience.

But Duncan said the selection process had been exemplary, saying that Murray’s eventual emergence as the preferred candidate was reflective of his strong suitability for the role.

Evidence provided to the inquiry showed Murray had scored well on his emotional intelligence score, and ranked highly on a number of metrics considered relevant to the secretary role.

Earlier, Murray rejected the idea his appointment was “some kind of conspiracy”, denying having any discussions with either the premier or Haylen about the vacant secretary role.

“The idea that I’ve secretly traded a highly rewarding international infrastructure leadership role, leading teams globally and successfully for 15 years, taking a pay cut in some kind of conspiracy; that just doesn’t stack up. And I reject all of that,” he said.

Haylen defended her decision not to appear at the inquiry, saying it was convention that “lower house members don’t appear in upper house inquiries” – despite signalling just two weeks ago that she would appear.

“I’m answering questions to the people I am responsible to, that is the travelling public of NSW and the lower house. It is convention that lower house members don’t appear in upper house inquiries. That’s how the parliament operates,” she said.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.