Australian politician Jo Haylen has quit as the New South Wales transport minister following revelations about her use of a ministerial car for private purposes.
It emerged on the weekend that Haylen had asked her chauffeur to take her and some friends to a winery lunch on the Australia Day weekend. It involved a 13-hour 446km round-trip for the driver, from Sydney to Haylen’s holiday house at Caves Beach, and then to a Hunter Valley winery and back.
“I have made mistakes; people aren’t perfect,” Haylen said on Tuesday as she read out her resignation statement. She did not take questions.
“I did not break the rules, but I acknowledge that’s not the only test here. I’ve let the public down and I’m very sorry for that. We were elected to be better than the last government.”
It was reported on Monday that Haylen had also used a taxpayer-funded driver to ferry herself and her children from Caves Beach – about 100km north of Sydney – to the city for weekend sporting events.
Ministerial cars and drivers can be used for private purposes under the current rules in NSW. But Haylen admitted on the weekend the Hunter Valley winery lunch failed the “pub test”.
The outgoing minister admitted at her snap press conference she had also taken another trip to the Hunter Valley with her husband using a ministerial car in 2024.
“I was working on that day, but I acknowledge that the use of my personal driver was an error of judgment by me,” Haylen said.
“My mistakes are now causing my government damage. Politics is tough. Expectations are very high. I know that.”
Minns earlier on Tuesday said that ministers were often tasked with weekend work and Haylen had said she was dropping off her children at sporting events en route to work in Sydney. (Guardian)