NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders used a taxpayer-funded car to ferry him around during a weekend away in the Hunter Valley with his wife in which he visited wineries and received gifts of alcohol in the latest of a string of disclosures that has placed a spotlight on use of ministerial vehicles.

The Sydney Morning Herald revealed last month that Saunders, leader of the junior Coalition partner in NSW and agriculture minister in the former government, took a Rural Fire Service jet from Dubbo to Newcastle in August 2022 before a trip through the Hunter Valley wine region.

Saunders was the only passenger on the 34-minute taxpayer-funded flight, which he took after being offered the plane by RFS commissioner Rob Rogers, to attend the opening of a memorial garden for firefighters in his Dubbo electorate.

While Saunders said he did not hire a car for the trip to Newcastle, or use a ministerial driver, the Herald obtained driver logs through freedom of information laws which show he did take a taxpayer-funded car on the trip.