The NSW transport minister has declined to say who else was personally notified about a vacant department secretary role that was directly flagged with her preferred candidate for the job.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen faced a barrage of press questions on Thursday after sidestepping a parliamentary inquiry into her pick for the department's boss.
The appointment of infrastructure executive and ex-Labor staffer Josh Murray to the $588,250-a-year job has been criticised after it was revealed that recruiters initially dismissed him as lacking the necessary experience.
Mr Murray was texted a job advertisement by the minister's office, as were two other people.
"I'm not going to disclose details of individuals," Ms Haylen told reporters ahead of the inquiry.
"But I have been very clear all along ... we put an advertisement in the newspaper, on LinkedIn, on government websites.
"It is reasonable that people would put those advertisements to people who might be interested in the position of the secretary."
She declined to say if those people, like Mr Murray, had donated to her political campaign, but she fiercely rejected any suggestion Mr Murray's $500 purchase of fundraiser tickets could potentially influence her decision for such a critical role.
"A reasonable person would think it is ridiculous that I would appoint someone to the most senior public service job that I rely on - the secretary of transport - on the basis that they simply bought two tickets to a dinner," she said.
The previous minister and secretary had a "dysfunctional relationship" and it was essential she appointed someone she could rely on, Ms Haylen said.
But she denied Mr Murray was anything more than a professional acquaintance, let alone a beneficiary of a "job for the boys" placement.
"He's not a close friend," Ms Haylen said.
"But I do know that he's the best person for the job.
"He has the skills, the experience, the temperament, the intelligence to execute on what is an incredibly important job."
Ms Haylen also denied wasting the time of senior public servant and former international transport executive Benedictine Colin, who recruiters ranked as a better prospect for the role than Mr Murray.
Facing the inquiry into his recruitment, Mr Murray rejected any suggestion that he was part of a "conspiracy" to take up the job, saying he had traded in a "highly rewarding international infrastructure leadership role" for the public-service position.
"I made a tough career call based on the opportunity to make a difference," he said.
"I was asked to apply again tomorrow, knowing what I know now, I would still say yes."
Mr Murray, a former executive at global engineering and construction company Laing O'Rourke, and chief of staff to former Labor premier Morris Iemma, began his tenure two weeks ago.
Opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said MPs wanted to understand the process for hiring Mr Murray, who she says went from being under-qualified and a risk in the eyes of recruiters to "being catapulted into a half-million dollar job".