MPs line up for ministries as Jackson admits she ‘should have spoken up’

Roads Minister John Graham has been touted as the frontrunner to permanently replace Jo Haylen in the transport portfolio as members of the Left agitate for one of their factional members to come into the cabinet.

Premier Chris Minns will be forced into his first substantive reshuffle since taking government after three days of intensifying pressure culminated in Haylen falling on her sword on Tuesday afternoon.

NSW Premier Chris Minns says he does not believe a culture of entitlement has become entrenched in his cabinet.Credit: Nick Moir

Haylen admitted to summoning her ministerial driver from Sydney to take herself and five others – including Housing Minister Rose Jackson – to a Hunter Valley winery for lunch in January. Reports of a second winery tour with her husband last year was the final straw, with her resignation coming just hours later.

Labor MPs, speaking on the condition of anonymity, outlined two possible paths Minns could adopt: a conservative approach in line with the premier’s general political instincts, keeping the structure of the cabinet as intact as possible, or using it an opportunity to make wholesale changes.

Many anticipated Graham, already appointed on an interim basis until mid-March, could take the role full-time. However, already holding the time-intensive roads portfolio, including major negotiations with Transurban over planned reforms of Sydney’s toll network, Graham would be likely to be forced to relinquish his smaller portfolios – special minister of state, jobs or tourism.

His affinity with the night-time economy and arts portfolios meant he would hold on to those, MPs speculated.

This would accord with the conservative approach, promoting one parliamentary secretary or backbencher into the ministry. MPs Jason Yat-Sen Li, Greg Warren, both from the Right, and Trish Doyle of the Hard Left were mentioned by multiple MPs as the most likely to be promoted.

“Jason is the most obvious candidate. It is Chris’ choice, and he isn’t that factional,” one senior MP said.

While Yat-Sen Li, the member for Strathfield, was considered the frontrunner, members of the Left said they would be pushing for one of their own to come into the ministry to ensure factional parity returned to cabinet, leaving Doyle as the beneficiary.

If Minns proceeded with wholesale changes, MPs said Planning Minister Paul Scully could be an alternative to replace Haylen. Along with finding a new planning minister, this scenario could also entail taking agriculture and regional from Tara Moriarty, and lightening the unwieldy portfolio of Building Minister Anoulack Chanthivong.

Minns said he had yet to make any decisions on a cabinet reshuffle following Haylen’s departure, but noted party rules gave him the power to mould his ministry.

Rose Jackson, NSW Minister for Housing and Homelessness visits units to be refurbished in TelopeaCredit: Nick Moir

“My style in relation to this is that I will talk to my colleagues and make a decision together. I think that there’s a lot of good people that we do have in our parliamentary party,” said Minns.

He also said none of his cabinet ministers had admitted to using their ministerial drivers the way Haylen had, and said he would take their answers on face value, despite receiving a similar denial from Haylen days before later revelations forced her resignation.

An audit of all ministerial driving logs would be futile given the existing rules were so liberal, Minns argued, saying it was unnecessary as there was no indication of similar conduct nor did he believe a culture of entitlement had become entrenched among his ministers.

“The general culture is one of humility and gratitude that we’re in this position, that we’ve got this job, that we have the amazing privilege of becoming a minister,” he said.

Jackson denied having any involvement in planning for Haylen’s ministerial vehicle to undertake a 13-hour, 446 kilometre round trip on the Australia Day long weekend.

Jackson conceded with the benefit of hindsight “I probably should have said something”, but said she was overcome by the excitement of a surprise lunch for her 40th birthday. Her use of ministerial drivers sometimes blurred the professional and personal, but she insisted they were “within the guidelines” and met the public expectation.

“People are probably aware of the fact that the circumstance of that weekend was a surprise to me. I didn’t even know I was going away. Certainly didn’t know any of the details. Had nothing to do with planning the logistics, had nothing to do with any of the bookings,” Jackson said on Wednesday.

The minister argued using a ministerial driver to ferry Jackson and her family to the airport for their recent holiday to Japan conformed to the rules as she was taking work calls on the way. Despite insisting everything was above board, Jackson would not commit to releasing her ministerial driving logs publicly.

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