NSW Premier Chris Minns’ ‘big black eye’ over MP’s taxpayer-funded driver for Australia Day weekend lunch

Labor has been dealt a “black eye” over an MP’s taxpayer-funded Australia Day weekend wine tour, with calls for the ministers involved to be sacked.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has ruled out sacking two powerful ministers involved in a $750 taxpayer-funded trip to a private event over the Australia Day long weekend but admitted the controversy had dealt a “black eye” to his government.

Labor MP Jo Haylen came under fire after it was revealed she had organised for a ministerial driver to ferry a group of people, including herself and another minister, to Brokenwood Estate in NSW’s Hunter Valley on January 25.

Mr Minns lashed out at the Summer Hill MP over the weekend, calling the decision “clearly unacceptable” and said he was reviewing guidelines around ministerial drivers.

However, he refused to sack Ms Haylen and Housing Minister Rose Jackson.

Mr Minns described the pair’s decision to take the driver as a “major error and lapse of judgment” and said he expected the pair to learn from their mistake, but he reiterated that the housing and transport portfolios were both complex.

“I believe we need continuity in those jobs … and I need ministers with experience under their belt and who are focused on the job at hand,” Mr Minns said.

“I accept this is a big black eye … I am promising to do better. We are looking at changing the rules, but I have to cop it on the chin, it's not a good look at all.”

Transport Minister Jo Haylen has come under fire for the taxpayer-funded driver. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Mr Minns said he had asked the Cabinet Office to provide advice on changing the guidelines around use of taxpayer-funded drivers.

“There are rules that we’re drafting up that we need to get in place,” he said.

“I don’t have them with me today, but I need to make sure that they’re in place so it doesn’t happen again, that these incidents aren’t reliant just on good judgment, they’re not allowed.”

Mr Minns said there was a “world of difference” between rides so an MP can “work even harder”, like school pick-ups, and a trip up the coast.

“It must be in the service of the minister doing their job,” he said.

“If it’s a purely private function that has nothing to do with work, it doesn’t help them do their job, then the answer is no.

“I can’t promise a perfect government. We can’t promise perfect ministers. No one can. Mistakes are going to be made.

“Working with both ministers on very complex issues, whether industrial issues, budget issues, metro roll out … I do have confidence that it’s being handled appropriately.”

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman described the incident as “an appalling indictment on Chris Minns’ leadership” and called for the ministers to be sacked, but ruled out referring the issue to ICAC.

He said it should have been “bleedingly obvious” to the Summer Hill MP that the taxpayer-funded chauffeur would fail to meet expectations and it was not about the amount of money involved but the principle.

“It just shows a complete lack of judgment on the part of this minister,” he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Monday.

“The Premier has said this is clearly unacceptable.

“Jo Haylen herself admits that she has failed to meet public expectations”.

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the incident showed a ‘complete lack of judgment’. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

NSW Premier Chris Minns also criticised Ms Haylen for using the driver. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Mr Speakman describe the decision by Ms Haylen and Housing Minister Rose Jackson to get in the car as a “rort”.

He said that while members of state government were entitled to use government cars, it was a “privilege (that) comes with responsibility to use it appropriately”.

“It can’t be appropriate to get an eight-seater Kia carnival to ferry your mates around to a boozy lunch … That’s never appropriate,” he said.

“You don’t need guidelines to tell you that, and that’s why this minister has acted wrongly and she needs to go.

“But its not just about Jo Haylen … It’s also about the Premier, if he let’s this go by and just says ‘oh, we need to look at the guidelines’.

“That says all about his leadership and integrity. If he is going to be a premier of integrity and strong leadership, he needs to sack both of them.”

Asked later on Sky News AM Agenda about a 2017 incident in which Energy Minister Don Harwin forced his ministerial driver to wait five and a half hours outside a Liberal Party preselection event, Mr Speakman said “I’m not going to pull over coals”.

He went on to tell host Laura Jayes that Ms Haylen had broken the “spirit of the rules” and that it was “such an egregious case (that) it is clearly a sacking”.

The driver reportedly clocked a 446km round trip, leaving in a Kia Carnival at 8am on January 25 from his Rockdale home.

He then picked up Ms Haylen from her Caves Beach holiday home, as well as her husband, Housing Minister Rose Jackson and her husband and two friends.

The driver waited for three hours at the Hunter Valley establishment before dropping the group back at the holiday house and returning home.

The trip took almost 13 hours.

The Wood at Brokenwood Winery offers a $105 set menu. Picture: Supplied

The group reportedly had steak tartare and multiple bottles of wine. Picture: Supplied

Ms Haylen apologised for the use of the driver on Sundaymand promised to pay back the $750 trip.

She admitted that while ministers were entitled to the use of ministerial drivers for private use, the incident “didn’t pass the pub test”.

“I made the wrong decision here. I apologise for it,” she said.

Asked if she had used taxpayer-funded drivers for private events in the past, Ms Haylen said she could not say for sure.

“I don’t recall that; however, I can’t say that definitively. There are grey areas and our jobs are 24/7,” she said.

“In this instance it’s not about the rules, it’s about the public expectation, which I failed to meet.”

Ms Haylen admitted in hindsight that she should have called an Uber, which also would have been significantly cheaper.

The Wood Restaurant at Pokolbin, about two hours north of Sydney, offers a set menu for $105 per person as well as items a la carte.

Housing Minister Rose Jackson was also in attendance. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

The Daily Telegraph reported the group ordered multiple bottles of wine as well as steak tartare, grilled sashimi grade squid and steak.

Ms Haylen has been the public-facing figure of the state government’s continuing negotiations with the powerful rail unions over the past year.

The government has dragged the Combined Rail Unions to the Fair Work Commission and before the Federal Court to stop industrial action, including over New Year’s Eve.

Ms Hayle’s Marrickville office was also separately targeted in an alleged graffiti attack earlier this year, the fourth time the Summer Hill MP’s office has been targeted.

The words “antisemite” and “honour your oath seperate (sic) church & state” were written on the glass doors.

A man has since been charged with two counts each of destroying or damaging property and intentionally marking premises without consent.

He has not entered any pleas and will reappear before court later this year.

Originally published as NSW Premier Chris Minns’ ‘big black eye’ over MP’s taxpayer-funded driver for Australia Day weekend lunch