NSW Finance Minister Damien Tudehope has resigned from his ministerial positions after it was revealed he failed to disclose his superannuation portfolio contained shares in toll giant Transurban.
Mr Tudehope was on Friday forced to confirm media reports his family's diversified superannuation fund included shares in Transurban, which owns the majority of Sydney's toll roads.
The senior minister, who was involved in policy decisions about Transurban, said he did not know the specifics of the portfolio fund, which was run by financial advisers.
Late on Friday Premier Dominic Perrottet announced Mr Tudehope had delivered his resignation as the minister for finance, minister for employee relations and leader of the government in the Legislative Council.
He will remain an upper house MP.
Mr Tudehope decided to resign from his positions despite legal advice sought by the premier clearing him of knowingly breaching the ministerial code of conduct.
In a media statement, he said he did not want to be an "unnecessary distraction" ahead of the March 25 election.
"During the eight years I have been elected as a member of parliament I have always sought to ensure that I have conducted myself, and those responsibilities that have been given to me, as something where I have acted beyond reproach," he said.
"The events of the last 24 hours have provided an unnecessary distraction for the government at a time when the most important thing for the people of New South Wales is to be concentrating on the choice before them — an experienced Liberal and Nationals government with a long term economic plan compared to a NSW Labor Party interested in tired and old politics."
The premier will now take on the roles of minister for finance and minister for employee relations.
He said Mr Tudehope was a person of "integrity and honesty" and had undertaken his responsibilities to the highest of standards.
In a press conference earlier today, Mr Tudehope said he had always taken his obligations as a minister seriously and was adamant he had no idea the fund contained Transurban shares until a journalist approached him two days ago.
He said although he had provided annual disclosures of the portfolio assets to the premier of the day since being appointed finance minister in 2019, he had never paid attention to the specifics of the fund.
"Most people if you ask them what assets their superannuation fund holds will probably have no idea.
"If I had known I had shares I would not have taken part in discussions involving Transurban."
Mr Tudehope did, however, deny being involved in any discussions around selling WestConnex — the biggest road infrastructure project in the nation — to Transurban.
Transurban's consortium, Sydney Transport Partners, paid more than $20 billion to buy WestConnex from the state government.
Mr Tudehope said his Transurban shares generated a profit of about $6,000 between 2019 and now, but they were all sold overnight and this morning.
He said all profits made during that period would be donated to charity.
Mr Tudehope started his career as a lawyer. He entered politics in 2015 when he won the seat of Epping with a primary vote of 54.3 per cent, the second-highest primary vote in the history of the seat.
He agreed not to contest the seat of Epping in 2019 so Mr Perrottet could transfer to it from the seat of Hawkesbury.
In exchange, Mr Tudehope was elected to the upper house.
He has nine children and, like Mr Perrottet, has links to the the Catholic Church's conservative Opus Dei organisation.
