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NSW transport minister resigns over use of taxpayer-funded driver

It was revealed that Haylen had used her ministerial driver to travel 446km from Sydney to her holiday house at Caves Beach

NSW transport minister Jo Haylen has resigned after she was found using her taxpayer-funded driver for private trips and winery visits.

Haylen has been under fire over the revelations that she used a ministerial driver to attend a private lunch at Brokenwood Winery in the Hunter Valley on January 25.
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It was also revealed Haylen had used government drivers to transport her and her children between her Lake Macquarie holiday house and Sydney for Saturday sport.

Ministerial cars and drivers can be used for private purposes under the current rules in NSW, but Haylen admitted the Hunter Valley winery lunch failed the “pub test”.

She has now apologised and says she will step down from the portfolio.
“I have made mistakes, people aren’t perfect. I did not break the rules, but I acknowledge that that’s not the only test here. I’ve let the public down and I’m very sorry for that,” Haylen says.

“We were elected to be better than the last Government.

“This morning I told the Premier I will resign my position as Minister for Transport. I will continue to serve the Government as the Member for Summer Hill.”

NSW premier Chris Minns released a statement about the situation, acknowledging that Haylen had “paid a high price” for her “error of judgement”.

“This morning, Minister Haylen advised me that she intends to resign as the Minister for Transport, and I have accepted her resignation,” Minns says.

“While this was clearly an error of judgement, there are also too many grey areas where private and public uses blur.
“Jo has paid a high price for that.
“I want to thank Jo for her service to the people of New South Wales.

Minns says he has updated the vehicle use policy in the Minister’s Office Handbook to ban the use of ministerial drivers for exclusively private purposes.

“The best way to fix this is to change the rules, and that is what I have done today,” he says.

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