{"id":31163,"date":"2025-02-02T04:27:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T04:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=31163"},"modified":"2025-02-02T04:27:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T04:27:31","slug":"van-haylen-labor-ministers-taxpayer-funded-day-trip-rort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/02\/02\/van-haylen-labor-ministers-taxpayer-funded-day-trip-rort\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Van Haylen\u2019 \u2013 Labor Ministers\u2019 taxpayer-funded day trip rort"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Saturday 25 January\u2014the day before Australia Day\u2014while NSW families were battling rising rents, mortgage repayments, and back-to-school costs, Jo Haylen ordered a taxpayer-funded van to drive from Sydney to her holiday home in Caves Beach\u2014where the average house price is $1.28 million\u2014just to pick her up.<br>&nbsp;<br>Not work. Not essential. Just the same old labor.<br>&nbsp;<br>And who was in the back seat? Their mates and Rose Jackson\u2014the same Minister who thinks rent in Sydney is $200 a week.<br>&nbsp;<br>Meanwhile, a government driver was forced to do a 13-hour shift for their luxury. Where was the duty of care?<br>&nbsp;<br>Would any employer\u2014government or private\u2014allow this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How exactly will Haylen \u201cpay it back\u201d? Has she even asked the Premier\u2019s Department Secretary Simon Draper how this works?<\/li><li>Or will the Premier\u2019s Department be left to clean up the mess again?<\/li><li>And let\u2019s be real\u2014this wasn\u2019t just a quiet trip. Caves Beach is not far from the Hunter Valley\u2019s best wineries and Vodka Distilleries.<\/li><li>Was this taxpayer-funded ride part of a luxury day on the plonk?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said Jo Haylen and Rose Jackson had shown utter contempt for the NSW taxpayer and must resign.<br>&nbsp;<br>&#8220;Now that they\u2019ve been caught, Minister Haylen said she\u2019ll \u2018pay it back\u2019\u2014that\u2019s not accountability, that\u2019s an admission of guilt. And worse, they forced a government driver into a gruelling 13-hour shift,\u201d Mr Speakman said.<br>&nbsp;<br>Public transport has been in chaos\u2014but the Transport Minister refuses to take a train or bus.<br>&nbsp;<br>The mental health system is in freefall\u2014but the Mental Health Minister is too busy enjoying her free rides.<br>&nbsp;<br>Acting Shadow Minister for Transport Damien Tudehope said this isn\u2019t just about failing the pub test\u2014it\u2019s about failing the duty-of-care test.<br>&nbsp;<br>\u201cThey didn\u2019t just rort the system\u2014they endangered a government worker. A 13-hour drive is reckless and unacceptable.\u201d<br>&nbsp;<br>\u201cNSW taxpayers are under massive financial pressure, but the Transport Minister treats public money like her personal Uber account. And the Mental Health Minister thinks it\u2019s fine to tag along for the ride,\u201d Mr Tudehope said.<br>&nbsp;<br>This is same old Labor\u2014entitled, wasteful, and completely out of touch.<br>&nbsp;<br>This is a test for Chris Minns\u2019 own standards and leadership. If Jo Haylen and Rose Jackson don\u2019t resign, Chris Minns must sack them. No excuses, no spin\u2014just leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday 25 January\u2014the day before Australia Day\u2014while NSW families were battling rising rents, mortgage repayments, and back-to-school costs, Jo Haylen ordered a taxpayer-funded van to drive from Sydney to her holiday home in Caves Beach\u2014where the average house price is $1.28 million\u2014just to pick her up.&nbsp;Not work. Not essential. Just the same old labor.&nbsp;And &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/02\/02\/van-haylen-labor-ministers-taxpayer-funded-day-trip-rort\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;\u2018Van Haylen\u2019 \u2013 Labor Ministers\u2019 taxpayer-funded day trip rort&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31164,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31163\/revisions\/31164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}