Minns to ask transport minister about second winery trip

On the weekend, Minns said he was assured by Haylen that her Australia Day winery trip was an isolated incident.

“Having spoken to her [Haylen] over the last couple of days, she fully acknowledges this was a shocker, a major mistake, and I believe [her] when she says she’s not going to do it again … I think that there’s been a singular, a massive, but singular lapse here, and I think it was probably absent-minded of her, not malicious,” he said.

Haylen also used a ministerial driver to take her children to weekend sport from her holiday home. Minns said he quizzed the minister on these trips, and she assured him she was also on the way to work when the children were being taken to sport.

Haylen was allowed to take these trips under the current guidelines, however, she admitted her use of drivers did not pass the pub test. She has committed to paying back the cost of the transportation, determined by the Premier’s Department to be $750.

The government will tighten the rules to limit the personal use of ministerial drivers.

When asked on the weekend if there were further examples of her privately using taxpayer-funded drivers, she said she couldn’t recall any other examples but there were “grey areas” in the use of drivers.

“Our jobs are 24/7, and it may be that the guidelines need to be considered, but in this instance, it’s not about the rules; it’s about the public’s expectation, which I failed,” she said.