Questions have been raised over whether NSW minister Rose Jackson used taxpayer funds to go to a popular Byron Bay festival.

But Ms Jackson said it was in the remit of her portfolio that she attend the annual event.

During budget estimates on Wednesday, upper house MP Sarah Mitchell questioned Ms Jackson over a ministerial trip she made to the Byron Shire in late July.

The minister, whose portfolios include water, housing, homelessness, mental health, youth, and the North Coast, met with local organisations and was also gifted seven tickets to attend the Splendour in the Grass music festival, which she did so alongside her husband and a staffer.

North Coast Minister Rose Jackson attended the festival while on a trip to Byron Shire to meet with local organisations. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Simon Bullard

Ms Mitchell accused Ms Jackson of using “taxpayer money to go to a music festival”, with the trip totalling $1726.28 for flights and hire car costs. However, she did not claim accommodation for the Saturday and Sunday, as Ms Jackson “stayed with a friend”.

“You’ve also just said that your office set up those visits over a weekend that purely out of coincidence has Splendour in the Grass, which you’re also going to. You haven’t claimed the accommodation, but you have claimed flights and car hire to go to a music festival on taxpayer money,” Ms Mitchell said.

“Do you think that that’s an appropriate use?”

Ms Jackson denied the claims and said promoting arts and culture was a key area of her portfolio for the North Coast.

“Not only do I stand by it, what a bargain,” Ms Jackson said. “I met a number of major economic contributors to the region.”

The minister said she was gifted the tickets and used the event to promote local arts and tourism initiatives. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Danielle Smith

She added that while she wasn’t a “live music fan”, she said she used it as an opportunity to promote events and tourism initiatives on the North Coast.

“It’s not really my scene, but I like to be part of promoting these kind of opportunities,” she said.

“I wouldn’t necessarily prioritise (these events) because of my interest. My interest is how can we draw attention to these awesome events and gatherings that are incredible tourism (opportunities).”

The minister was also asked what capacity her staffer had attended the festival. Although Ms Jackson took some questions on notice, she said it was her “recollection” they travelled with her, attended meetings and then “stayed on site”.

In the same session, Greens spokeswoman for the North Coast and Mid North Coast, Sue Higginson, thanked Ms Jackson for attending the festival.

“Thank you for attending Splendour in the Grass. It’s a very important event to our community in the Northern Rivers,” she said.

“I can’t support it because the environmental constraints of the site, but I know how important it is when high profiles do attend.”

Drought preparedness

NSW potentially faces escalating indicators of drought given the impact of El Nino, and questions were asked about the state’s drought preparedness.

Currently, 50.3 per cent of the state has been classified as intense drought, drought or drought-affected by the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

Ms Jackson said both herself and Regional Minister Tara Moriarty were managing the issue and had engaged water agencies across NSW, with briefings issued across the board.

“Those meetings have kicked off and already have an action plan associated with them,” she said.

“It goes right through all of our local water utilities engaging with every single one of those in relation to their risk profiles.

“We’ve (also) delivered money in the budget for a range of our key high-risk regional towns.”

Questions were raised around why the government didn’t follow through with the Coalition’s $90m top-up of a $1bn Safe and Secure Water program.

Ms Jackson said the fund had been “fully allocated and rolling out projects” when Labor won government in March, and her priority was now on progressing the projects.

NSW Department of Planning and Environment Deputy secretary Amanda Jones said more than 25 per cent of its budget would be directed at supporting regional areas across the state.

This includes funds on operational and technical support for local water utilities and supporting councils with drought preparation.

The combined drought indicator across NSW, current as of October 28. Picture: Department of Primary Industries

Minister doubles down on state’s homelessness goal

Ms Jackson faced questions over why she couldn’t recall the exact homelessness figures in certain electorates before passionately rubbishing the line of questioning.

The 2023 NSW Street Count found 1623 people were rough sleeping, a 34 per cent increase on 2022 figures.

“I just fundamentally disagree with the proposition that my job should be trawling the Department of Communities and Justice website for text content in there,” she said.

“I’ve got serious issues in the housing crisis.”

She clarified her goal for reducing homelessness in NSW was to make it a “rare, brief and non-recurring” experience. She said this goal was better than using a numerical figure because it assumed there would still be a “significant number of people who are homeless”.

Jackson yet to receive land audit recommendations

Ms Jackson was also quizzed over her role in the land audit, with NSW Premier Chris Minns ordering all ministers to identify surplus land to be earmarked for housing, with a 30 per cent target for social and affordable housing.

The minister said she had yet to receive any recommendations for potential housing sites and added the review was being led by Lands and Property Minister Steve Kamper.

Opposition planning spokesman Scott Farlow also asked whether Ms Jackson had advocated for any bowling clubs, tennis courts or golf courses with expiring leases to be turned into housing, to which she said no.

“There’s going to be a substantial amount of land that goes into the land audit that’s not suitable for residential housing,” she said.

“Of course we accept that but the whole point of doing the comprehensive audit is to actually get all of that information in one place.”