“He is a serious,intelligent thinking person. He is a leader of people.”
On Tuesday,opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward gave notice that they will try and force the government to hand over all documents relating to Murray’s hiring,accusing the government of a lack of transparency behind the process because of the earlier meeting with the minister.
“The transport minister likes to sing his praises,but the facts are that he is a mate of the minister,an ex-Labor staffer and was,or is currently,a member of the Labor Party and without any discernible transport experience,” she said.
Asked about the process behind Murray’s appointment,a spokesman for Haylen said that the meeting with Murray in April was “not an interview”.
“It was a meeting with someone with years of government and industry experience in the transport portfolio,” the spokesman said.
“Josh Murray had run a transport minister’s office and has spent 15 years working with industry stakeholders. After the election,the minister was seeking views inside and outside the department on priorities. This was a publicly disclosed meeting taking place in the middle of Parliament House.”
The diaries – the first to be released under the Minns government – shed light on the initial priorities of Labor in its return to power after 12 years in opposition.
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An analysis by theHerald reveals the new government held more than 130 meetings with union leaders in the three months after the election as it grapples with a series of tense public sector wage negotiations and plans for an industrial relations overhaul.
Premier Chris Minns met with Unions NSW five days after the election,and four more times before the end of June,as well as with the Health Services Union. He also met with miner Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance,gaming lobbyist ClubsNSW,property developer Walker Corporation and Eraring’s proposed buyer Brookfield.