Former NSW minister Ian McDonald loses appeal over jail sentence for corrupt mine deal

A former minister jailed for corruptly awarding a mining licence has learned his fate after a desperate appeal for release.

A former NSW Labor minister jailed for corruptly awarding a mining exploration licence to a company chaired by former union boss John Maitland has failed in his bid to have the conviction overturned.

Ian McDonald was sentenced to 14 years in prison with a non-parole period of 10 years in 2022, after a judge found there was a high degree of criminality involved in issuing the Doyles Creek mine licence.

Maitland, former chairman of Doyles Creek Mining, was acquitted and cleared of all allegations he had been an accessory to the criminal misconduct after both men were granted a retrial by an appeals court in 2019.

McDonald appealed his conviction and sentence on seven grounds, including claims the judge had erred in conflating purpose and motive and that his assessment of seriousness was “manifestly excessive”.

In their judgment handed down on Monday morning, Justices Leeming, Mitchelmore and Garling ruled that while leave was granted in respect of some of the grounds for appeal, they would ultimately dismiss it.

“The verdict was not unreasonable in circumstances where the Department advised against the proposal,” the justices said.

“The terms on which the licence was granted were considerably more unfavourable to the State of NSW than comparable licences in the same region.

“Mr Macdonald knew there was competing interest in exploring the Jerrys Plains area, and there was evidence he had acted with unusual haste in granting the licence.”

Ian MacDonald claimed the judge had erred in his ruling. Picture: NewsWire / Dylan Coker

The justices said it was not enough for MacDonald to show one of the factors relied upon was erroneous for the conclusion to be set aside, but that it had “deprived him of a reasonable possibility of acquittal”.

McDonald was serving as Mineral Resources Minister when in 2008 he exercised his powers under the Mining Act to grant an exploration licence to Doyles Creek Mining over the Jerrys Plain coalfields.

The allocation was given to DCM without going to tender, with the primary judge finding the “driving force” behind the decision was the “improper purpose of benefiting DCM and its director, Mr Maitland”.

McDonald and Mr Maitland stood trial and were convicted of the offences in 2019, but returned to court in 2022 for a judge-alone retrial after the appeals court ruled against the original judge’s findings.

The appeals court overturned the convictions because of a misdirection as to the elements of the offence; two grounds of MacDonald’s most recent appeal – those not granted – made the same argument.

In terms of MacDonald’s sentence, the justices ruled that while it “was not lenient” and that he had little prospect of reoffending, it was not so “out of the range” as to conclude the judge had erred.

Originally published as Former NSW minister Ian McDonald loses appeal over jail sentence for corrupt mine deal