In August of the previous year, Ryan Park, New South Wales’ health minister, opted to utilise the services of a ministerial car and driver for a 456km drive from Sydney to Jindabyne, which is located in the Snowy Mountains. This journey took place during the final stages of the Interschools ski races, wherein Park’s son participated as a competitor.
The documentation for the ministerial car usage, made available through a recent order for papers, shows that Park utilised the car to travel from the New South Wales Parliament House in Macquarie Street to Jindabyne. His son was enrolled at a high school in the Snowy Mountains at the time.
According to earlier releases of travel logs, in November and December of the same year, Park conducted two journeys to Thredbo, still using a ministerial driver to convene with his family in this ski resort town. Until February of this year, ministerial cars could be employed for private purposes under existing rules.
New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, has recently introduced stricter guidelines regarding the use of ministerial cars, disallowing their use for exclusively private purposes following the resignation of Jo Haylen as transport minister. Haylen resigned after she was found to have used her ministerial car for a personal trip to a Hunter Valley winery, which sparking a debate about the proper use of such vehicles.
Park defended his actions, stating that these trips were in line with the rules of the time. However, since then, the rules have been tightened to prevent the misuse of ministerial cars for private aims.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/17/nsw-mp-ryan-park-ministerial-car-jindabyne-trip-ski-season-ntwnfb
