NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen under fire after appointing former Labor staffer to $600k role

The NSW Transport Minister is under pressure as she defends her decision to appoint a Labor party figure to her department.

Transcript

00:00 Facing its first Jobs for the Boys scandal, Labor is trying to keep its message on track.

00:07 Josh Murray was a strong candidate and very suitable for the appointment of the Secretary of Transport.

00:13 And I'm very pleased he started in that role.

00:15 The Transport Minister defended hiring former Labor staffer Josh Murray to head her department

00:22 after an assessment by external recruiters found he lacked relevant experience for the almost $600,000 role.

00:30 The assessment that you raise by the recruitment company, look, I reject.

00:35 That company also found hiring him would be a significant risk.

00:39 But emails showed Jo Halen's Chief of Staff requested Josh Murray should be interviewed as well.

00:45 He did not tell the independent panel who to interview.

00:50 He was asked for feedback on a list of candidates.

00:55 He suggested that Josh Murray be interviewed.

00:58 He landed the job over a senior woman Transport Executive, Benedict Collin.

01:03 Who sent you the job ad from within the NSW Government?

01:07 I received an update from the Chief of Staff saying that job was live.

01:14 The Chief of Staff in Jo Halen's office?

01:16 Yes, that's correct.

01:18 That bothered Chris Minns last year during the former government's job scandal.

01:22 It's just been revealed that Stuart Ayres sent John Barilaro the ad for the NYC job

01:28 before Barilaro had even left Parliament, he tweeted.

01:32 The circumstances aren't the same.

01:34 The Premier says he's confident that no rules have been broken.

01:38 But there is a risk of a parliamentary inquiry with both the Coalition and the Greens in agreement

01:44 that the government has more questions to answer.

01:47 If all signs point to more controversy, the Minister will be hoping to avoid.

01:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]