Jo Haylen 'paid high price' over use of taxpayer-funded driver, premier says

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for private events, with the premier saying she's "forked out a pretty penny".

Haylen's been under fire over the shockers that she used a ministerial driver to attend a private lunch at Brokenwood Winery in the Hunter Valley on January 25.

She apologised today and said she's stood down from the role.

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"As I mentioned on Sunday, I've made some errors, no one's infallible, I didn't breach any rules, but I admit that's not the only issue here," she said.

Sorry for letting the community down – that's really disappointed me.

We were chosen to do better than the previous government.

This morning I've advised the state's chief executive that I'll be stepping down as transport minister.

Further information came to light on weekdays that Haylen had used her ministerial driver to travel 446km from Sydney to her holiday house at Caves Beach.

The driver took her and Housing Minister Rose Jackson, along with their spouses and two other mates, to the private lunch at Brokenwood Winery in the Hunter Valley on the day before Australia Day.

The driver waited for three hours for their meal to finish before driving them back to Caves Beach and then heading back to Sydney, a distance of over 13 hours by road.

The transport minister said she'd pay for the whole trip which cost $750.

Since the initial news broke about the winery trip, more allegations have been levelled at Haylen regarding her use of the private driver, including taking the kids to their Saturday sport.

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She copped to taking the drive to the Hunter Valley on a second occasion, but discussed the second trip independently.

"I did take a trip last year with my husband to the Hunter Valley. It wasn't the same situation as the 25th of January. That was a public holiday," Haylen said.

I'll admit the decision to use my own driver was a poor choice on my part.

My errors are now hurting my country.

Haylen will still be the Member for Summer Hill.

Earlier today, Premier Chris Minns called Haylen's actions "indefensible", but said he wouldn't sack her from the transport portfolio.

He issued a statement on his resignation and the adjustments to the rules surrounding Ministerial drivers.

"This arvo, the Minister for Transport, Haylen, had a chinwag with me and said she's chucked in the towel as Minister, and I've given the okay for her resignation to go ahead," he said.

While this was clearly an error of judgement, there are also too many grey areas where personal and public uses overlap.

Jo's coughed up a fair whack for that.

I'd like to express my appreciation to Jo for her dedication to the people of New South Wales.

G'day mate, the best way to fix this is to change the rules, and that is what I've done today... All Ministers gotta follow the policy, and it'll kick in straight away.

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Fair dinkum, the alterations mean Ministerial drivers can now only be used for official work or personal use "if the use is dead-set incidental to the Minister's official duties".

Haylen was appointed transport minister following Labor's victory in the March 2023 election.

The recent furore isn't the first time Haylen has been subjected to criticism.

It came to light in August 2023 that Haylen had chosen former Labor staffer Josh Murray as transport secretary after her office stepped in to have him added to the shortlist of candidates.

Files revealed late last year showed Haylen overlooked the highly qualified senior transport executive, Benedicte Colin, who had been deemed "highly suitable" for the job, in preference for Murray.