The NSW transport minister denies she has a conflict of interest or needed to tell the premier her pick to lead her $178 billion department donated to her political campaign.
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Documents tabled in parliament showed Josh Murray made a personal donation of $500 to Jo Haylen's political campaign before Labor won government.
Ms Haylen on Tuesday said the donation was for two tickets to a fundraiser attended by several hundreds of people with a keynote speech by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese six months before the election.
She denied she was required to declare the donation to Premier Chris Minns or anyone else as it fell below a $1000 threshold.
"I've declared everything I'm required to declare," Ms Haylen told 2GB on Tuesday.
"'I'm not required to tell the premier - the premier knows that.
"I know Josh Murray professionally, as do many other people in political circles and across the transport and infrastructure sector."
The donation, uncovered in internal documents discussing press conference strategies, is the latest revelation to spark questions about the appointment of the transport tsar.
Before taking the reigns of Transport for NSW two weeks ago, Mr Murray was a corporate affairs and people executive at infrastructure giant Laing O'Rourke and spent time as chief of staff to Labor premier Morris Iemma.
He was initially left off a shortlist for the role until Ms Haylen's office requested he be interviewed. A later panel whittled the list down to Mr Murray and a senior public servant and sent it to Ms Haylen.
Mr Murray was also one of the first people Ms Haylen met as transport minister, before incumbent secretary Rob Sharp was sacked.
The transport minister reiterated she had the best person in the job to oversee the nation's largest transport network, including the busiest rail system, and denied she had anything to hide.
"(It) would be absurd to make a connection between buying a couple of tickets for a fundraiser, six months out from an election and a very important senior public service job," she said.
"I don't have a private interest here. I don't have a conflict."
Opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said the premier and his minister had to release documents confirming conflicts of interest were declared and managed.
"The public must have confidence that conflicts of interest, real and perceived, are disclosed and managed appropriately," Ms Ward said.
"If appropriate steps were taken, these documents should be easy to produce."
The scandal still has a way to run, with hearings into a snap parliamentary inquiry to begin on Thursday.
The inquiry will examine Mr Murray's recruitment as well as the pandemic-era appointment of Nationals federal secretary Emma Watts as NSW Cross-Border Assistant Commissioner.
The committee leading the inquiry has three government MPs, two opposition, one Green and independent Mark Latham.
Australian Associated Press
