PR firm given $560,000 to combat ‘negative’ views of controversial NSW rail body

The NSW government set up the Transport Asset Holding Entity in 2015 to transfer $40bn worth of rail assets out of the hands of the transport department and into a state-owned corporation. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

The New South Wales government gave a public relations firm half a million dollars to devise a strategy to combat “negative” perceptions of its controversial $40bn rail corporation, which included posting on LinkedIn and giving itself a different name.

Documents obtained by the Guardian reveal the Transport Asset Holding Entity (Tahe), the scandal-plagued corporation set up to take over control of the state’s rail assets, was so concerned about negative media attention that it hired PR firm Newgate to devise a “corporate narrative”.