The NSW government may have some justification in deciding to simply cancel, through ­legislation, coal licences issued in corrupt deals linked to former NSW Labor heavyweights Ian Macdonald or Eddie Obeid . The licences are, in effect, stolen property which should be returned to the people of NSW.

But abrupt cancellation, involving losses of hundreds of ­millions of dollars on the strength of the findings of the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry and before charges have been laid against any of the players involved, let alone tested in a court of law, has an unfortunate whiff of ­government confiscation.