George Ghossayn asks: ‘Why did Sam Mostyn take my gong?’

George Ghossayn’s gong, awarded in 2016 for his services to the Lebanese community and philanthropy, was cancelled after his company was found guilty and fined for illegally dumping asbestos waste

A prominent businessman has been stripped of his Order of Australia Medal after his demolition company - which lists the Defence Department and the University of Sydney as clients - was fined for illegally dumping asbestos and other waste.

Governor-General Sam Mostyn has cancelled George Ghossayn’s gong, awarded in 2016 for his services to the Lebanese community and philanthropy, after he and his company were fined a total of $682,625 in 2023.

In November that year, the Land and Environment Court NSW found the Ghossayn Group Pty Ltd had committed a combined nine offences.

Six related to the transportation of 379 tonnes of waste, contaminated with asbestos, from a Dulwich Hill construction site to a residential property in Luddenham, where it was unlawfully dumped, in July 2019.

The other three offences involved Ghossayn and his company engaging others to draw up 49 falsified waste delivery dockets, known as tipping dockets, claiming the waste had been lawfully disposed of at a licensed facility.

George Ghossayn has been stripped of his OAM for services to the Lebanese community after his excavation company was fined for illegally dumping asbestos and waste.

The company was fined $550,000 for its five offences and ordered to pay prosecutors’ investigation costs of $14,468.60.

Company founder Ghossayn, the sole director, was fined a total of $132,625 for his four liability offences.

The firm was prosecuted by the NSW Environment Protection Authority and pleaded guilty.

In affidavits tendered to the court, Ghossayn stated that, at the time of the offences, the company had been experiencing financial hardship and he wanted to dispose of contaminated waste material more cheaply by avoiding the fees at a licensed facility.

Ghossayn, 77, from Punchbowl in southwest Sydney founded the company 45 years ago.

He blamed the offences on his staff not keeping him informed of day-to-day operations.

A listing in The Gazette dated 25 March said his OAM had simply been “cancelled”.

“It is notified for general information that the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia has cancelled the Medal of the Order of Award awarded to Mr George Wadih Ghossayn,” it said.

A proud father of twins, Ghossayn emigrated as a child from Hadath El-Joubbeh, in northern Lebanon, and is now a leading figure in the Sydney Lebanese community.

“I am very saddened that this OAM has been cancelled - why did Ms Mostyn do that?” he asked.

“I’m always helping people. All the poor people. All the people that need help.

George Ghossayn, 77, was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2016 for his services to the Lebanese community and philanthropy.

“I forget myself to help others first. I was not in the country when the order was cancelled, I was in Lebanon.

“I asked my barrister to challenge the decision and he said there is nothing we could do.

“I got told last month that the order has been cancelled – it makes me very sad.

“I built my reputation on the company and helping others – it’s a bad thing the governor-general has done.

“My wife is a professor and heads the Australian Lebanese Foundation

“It was one member of staff who messed up at the company. I didn’t. I don’t know what was going on. It came as a shock to lose the OAM.”

A spokeswoman for the Council for the Order of Australia said: “The Governor-General acts on recommendations made by the Council for the Order of Australia. The grounds on which the council may make recommendations, and the process that is followed, to cancel an award are set out in the Terminations and Cancellations Ordinance. The council does not comment on individual deliberations”.