Premier Chris Minns slams ministers Jo Haylen and Rose Jackson’s taxpayer-funded Hunter Valley winery tour
The Premier has slammed a ‘shocker’ by two MPs after a 13-hour, taxpayer-funded ministerial car ferried them to a winery lunch, saying it went against the ALP’s values, but spared them the sack.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has slammed a “massive error of judgment” by ministers Jo Haylen and Rose Jackson after a 13-hour, taxpayer-funded ministerial car ferried them to a winery lunch, saying it went against the ALP’s values, but has refrained from sacking the pair.
Mr Minns confirmed he would change rules around the use of taxpayer-funded ministerial cars – ministers currently can use them for personal trips – and said he was confident that it was the “only incident” of a similar nature.
It comes after it was revealed on the weekend that Transport Minister Haylen summoned a ministerial driver on a 446-kilometre round-trip from Sydney to chauffeur her and a group of friends to a long lunch at a Hunter Valley winery on January 25 during the Australia Day weekend.
For the trip, which was also attended by the Housing and Mental Health Minister, the driver took a 13-hour trip from Sydney to the minister’s holiday house before driving them to a separate jaunt at the Brokenwood winery for a three-hour lunch, which included bottles of wine, steak tartare and wood-fired squid.
The premier said the booking of the car for a personal weekend winery meal was a “shocker” and it had self-inflicted a “black eye” on his government’s reputation.
“I’ve made it very clear to them that I regard (the booking) as a major error,” Mr Minns said.
“It gives the government a bad reputation, and I think that many people in the community would be very, very unhappy with the actions of my government.”
On Sunday, Ms Haylen apologised and said the $750 cost of the transportation would be repaid.
She accepted the decision to arrange the driver “purely for private purposes” was a “mistake” and that while it was within the rules it didn’t “pass the pub test”.
Mr Minns also criticised the treatment of the driver, saying it went against the ALP’s values.
“We’re the Labor Party, which was founded on the premise of respecting and treating workers with respect,” he said.
“It’s (poor) treatment of a hard-working public servant, someone who turns up every single day on behalf of the people of NSW, who shouldn’t be treated in this matter.
“I expect all my ministerial colleagues to not just abide by the rules as they’re written, but to show good judgment when dealing with the public money. There could be no higher and more important calling.”
Refusing to sack the pair, Mr Minns said it was important that there was “continuity” in both the transport and housing portfolios, adding he needed Ms Haylen and Ms Jackson’s “experience”, and that he was “confident” both had learned from the “error”.
Both ministers are influential in the party’s left, staunch allies of the premier, and played key roles in shepherding left-faction support to Mr Minns during his successful 2021 leadership bid.
Mr Minns said he “understood” that the trip was the only one of a similar nature, but that he would be “quizzing” Ms Haylen on Monday, and that while Ms Jackson wasn’t involved with the car’s booking, she should have raised its inappropriateness.
“I think the best thing I can do is look at changing the rules to ensure that this isn’t done again,” he said.
Mr Minns said that it was out of character for Ms Haylen, given she held herself normally in public life with “dignity”.
“(Ms Haylen) is not someone who pursues vendettas, speaks aggressively,” he said.
“She treats people with respect, and that’s why this (error) is so out of character.”
Ms Haylen apologised on Sunday for the use of the driver – saying it “didn’t pass the pub test” – and promised to pay back the $750 trip, saying the car had been organised the day prior.
“I made the wrong decision here. I apologise for it,” she said on Sunday, adding she couldn’t confirm she hadn’t used the ministerial driver in similar personal capacities previously.
“I don’t recall (similar cases), however, I can’t say that definitively. There are grey areas and our jobs are 24/7.”
Ministerial driver shifts over 12 hours require a signed risk safety assessment and additional check-ins. Despite the vehicle logbook registering a 13-hour trip, a spokesman from the Premier’s Department said the driver’s shift did not exceed 12 hours, meaning no safety assessment was required.
NSW Opposition leader Mark Speakman called on both Ms Haylen and Ms Jackson to resign over the use of the ministerial vehicle, saying it was “an abuse of taxpayer funds”.
“With that privilege, and it is a privilege, comes the responsibility to use it appropriately, and it can’t be appropriate to get an agency to ferry your mates around to a boozy lunch in the Hunter Valley at taxpayer expense,” he said on Monday.
“You don’t need guidelines to tell you that, and that’s why this minister has acted wrongly and she needs to go.”
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