Embattled NSW Transport secretary has defended his right to make political donations as more contributions to the campaigns of Premier Chris Minns and Transport Minister Jo Haylen were revealed.

Former ALP staffer Josh Murray appeared before a parliamentary inquiry into the recruitment process for his $588,000 a year government role in Ms Haylen’s department on Thursday.

The new NSW Labor government has been questioned for weeks why Mr Murray was appointed despite being declared “unsuitable” by the recruitment agency which handled the process.

Mr Murray told the hearing his wife Davina Langton, a former Labor staffer, spent $500 on two tickets to a dinner for a former Labor premier in 2022.

The couple also attended a pre-election trivia fundraiser for Mr Minns in his seat of Kogarah at the cost of $200, paid for by his family. Their table included his father-in-law and former Labor transport minister Brian Langton.

The new donations revealed on Thursday were made in addition to the $500 personally donated by Mr Murray, plus an additional $250 contribution made by his wife during an election for Ms Haylen in October last year.

Despite the total of his family’s contribution totalling to $1450, Mr Murray said he had attended the events as a “private citizen”.

“Even public servants are allowed to take part in democratic processes and engagement with their community,” he said.

“I was not a public servant, (I went) as a private citizen.”

Independent MP Mark Latham said it was “getting close to a very significant contribution”.

“Don’t you think you’re delusional about the ethics that should apply?” Mr Latham asked.

“You thought that was ethically OK? You’re being paid a lot of money in a very important position for which the recruitment agency said you weren’t qualified.”

Mr Murray has maintained he was given the job due to his experience in government and infrastructure.

Prior to joining TfNSW, Mr Murray was the group director for global engineering and construction firm Laing O’Rourke.

“The idea that I’ve secretly traded a highly rewarding international infrastructure leadership role, leading teams globally and successfully for 15 years, (and took) a pay cut in some kind of conspiracy, that just doesn’t stack up and I reject all of that,” he said.

While giving evidence, Mr Murray said he met Ms Haylen seven years ago “at a friend’s wedding” and said they had a “semi-professional relationship”.

He also said he resigned as a member of the Labor Party in June, after he was accepted into the recruitment process for the role.

Premier responds to revelations

In light of revelations over Mr Minns’ friendship with Mr Murray, the Premier acknowledged that while he was “friendly” with Mr Murray, he stressed he was not involved in the hiring process.

“I didn’t appoint him to this position was not my decision. I didn’t discuss it with him before he was appointed all through his application process or since he’s been appointed,” he said.

Asked specifically about the donation, he said was only made aware of the donations in the previous 24 hours, but said it needed to viewed in context.

“There’d be tens of thousands of people in NSW, that honestly, and via compliance with the rules, make donations to political parties,” he said.

“I think Mr Murray’s evidence that he’s complied fully with his obligations are correct.”

Recruitment process criticised

Mr Murray also criticised the recruitment process undertaken by NGS Global, and said his concerns led him to reach out to Ms Haylen’s chief of staff, Scott Gartrell.

This included instances where recruiters wrongly listed his name and short-listed him for the wrong position.

“I felt that having run hundreds of executive recruitments around the world over the last 10 years, I felt this lacked pace and it lacked information,” he said.

“I wanted to make sure they had my materials.”

He later said he did not think his application “was being treated seriously from those opening days,” and that his “global experience in infrastructure and my background in government” was not being understood.

Mr Murray also said he had achieved a high score in his psychometric testing, detailing correspondence between the recruiter, Marianne Broadbent and the acting secretary of the Premier’s Department, which said the final two candidates were “strong”.

Recruiter: Murray had ‘many good qualities’

NGS Global’s managing partner Marianne Broadbent also said the recruitment process was “robust,” and involved the recruiter to speaking to 12 candidates.

Dr Broadbent said while Mr Murray was initially labelled as a “significant risk,” this was later downgraded to a “risk,” due to him having less operational experience compared to other candidates.

However, she said he also had many good qualities and valuable skills, including “strong communication and influencing skills”.

Dr Broadbent said candidates were not asked questions about political conflict of interests, and the interviews focused on leadership capabilities. She also said she did not believe there was a “predetermined outcome”.

She also clarified NGS Global was paid $100,000 for the recruitment process, and said she believed a further $25,000 was likely spent by the government to advertise the role.

Panel reached ‘consensus’ on short-listing Murray

The committee also heard from former Labor minister Verity Firth, who was approached by Ms Haylen to appear on an assessment panel tasked with determining a shortlist for the position.

Prof Firth told the committee that while Mr Murray had been classified by external recruiters as a Group B candidate who had been “interviewed by NGS but (was) not as strong,” the panel progressed him onto the short list due to his “holistic” understanding of the government.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it, particularly when there’s been an initial recruiter process” she said.

She said the panel reached a “consensus” approach which selected Mr Murray.

“(The recruitment process) was entirely consistent with recruitment and executive level if anything, it was more (of a) proper process … including the relationship of the recruiter to the assessment panel,” she said.

As a former minister during the time Mr Murray acted as a chief of staff to premier Morris Iemma, Prof Firth’s independence was questioned by Mr Latham.

However she justified her position on the panel as she didn’t have a “pecuniary” relationship with the government.

“It’s rare that the recruitment panel don’t know most, if not all of the candidates,” she said.

“What I liked about the panel was that we were all very open about who we knew, who we had professional relationships with and who we worked with.”

However Mr Latham raised questions over whether there was a “public perception problem,” that the assessment panel was comprised of inner-city and factionally aligned Labor left members.

Haylen’s chief of staff: Process was ‘robust’

The Transport Minister’s chief of staff, Scott Gartrell has defended the recruitment process which led to Mr Murray being hired.

Mr Gartrell was implicated in the hiring process, after it was revealed he had texted the job advertisement to Mr Murray, who he had known for about 15 years through their work in the infrastructure industry.

“The process was robust. It was run by the department involved, independent public servants and industry experts,” he told Thursday’s committee.

“The opposition was always going to call out the fact that Josh Murray had worked for a Labor premier and they would make that controversial.”

Questioned about his contact with Mr Murray during the hiring drive, Mr Gartrell said he also checked in to ensure Mr Murray had applied for the job, and asked to see the candidate shortlist before making a recommendation for the panel to interview Mr Murray.

However, he said he didn’t believe his actions amounted to excess involvement as it was done before candidates had been officially short-listed, or before interviews had been confirmed.

Asked about the donations made by Mr Murray’s household to the Labor Party, Mr Gartrell said he didn’t believe it was “a material issue” and said he didn’t believe it would affect Mr Murray’s candidacy.

Instead Mr Gartrell appeared critical to the work done by NGS Global, which cost tax payers $125,000. He told the committee he didn’t believe the company had “fully understood the brief”.

“I think they did a pretty ordinary job. So you wonder whether they earned their money,” he said.

“We wanted a globally competent, experienced leader, someone who could inspire people who could heal the rifts in the department that we inherited.”

Minister: ‘Not answerable to the upper house’

Prior to the inquiry, Ms Haylen also faced a tough grilling from journalists after she declined to appear before the committee.

Facing multiple questions around her absence, she said she claimed she wasn’t “answerable” to the upper house.

“I’m answerable to the lower house. I’m answerable to the travelling public (commuters). I’m ultimately answerable to the public, and through you, the media, I’m answering questions right now,” she said.

Asked about the $125,000 independent recruitment process carried out to fill the transport role, Ms Haylen maintained the government needed to “test the market,” and stopped short of expressing regret at the decision.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I stand by the fact that we put advertisements for this very important job in the newspaper on LinkedIn on government websites,” she said.

“I wanted to make sure we tested the market to make sure we had the best candidates for the job.”

Ms Haylen also doubled down on claims that Mr Murray’s $500 donation to her election campaign was a conflict of interest that would have affected how she carried out her public duties.

“If we’re talking about a couple of tickets to a dinner, that is not a circumstance that will influence me in the execution of my of my public duties. It is ridiculous,” she said.

Assessment panel not aware of Murray’s Labor links

The inquiry also heard from the deputy commissioner of the Public Service Commission, Chris Lamb, who served as a member of the assessment panel for the secretary role.

The panel was tasked with assessing the merits of the candidates, before they were forwarded to the evaluation stage.

Mr Lamb said he was not aware of Mr Murray’s links with the Premier, the minister or the Labor Party, and said no one “pushed Mr Murray’s candidacy during the meeting, to best of my recollection”.

He also said that in order to “conduct an impartial assessment,” the panel should not have been alerted to Mr Murray’s government relationships.

Addressing a question asked by upper house Liberal MP Natalie Ward, Mr Lamb said that while he wasn’t sure the involvement from Ms Haylen’s office “classifies as interference,” he added that “in the event that it does, “then it would not be reasonable for the chief of staff to interfere”.

Mr Lamb added that he would take further advice before responding.

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