Obeid and Macdonald slam ‘reductionist ploy to rewrite history’ in coal licence trial
Former NSW resources minister Ian Macdonald and ex-Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid have slammed the prosecution's “reductionist ploy to rewrite history” in their coal licence trial.
NSW
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Former NSW resources minister Ian Macdonald says allegations he rigged a mining tender for a coal-rich NSW property owned by ex-politician Eddie Obeid is a “reductionist” attempt to rewrite history, their trial heard.
The ex state Labor MPs and 50-year-old Moses Obeid have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office at their NSW Supreme Court trial.
The trio schemed for Macdonald to grant a lucrative exploration licence on coal-rich Obeid family land at Mount Penny in the Bylong Valley between September 2007 and January 2009, the Crown alleges.
But on Monday MacDonald’s lawyer said prosecution claims he favoured Eddie Obeid to secure a benefit from the powerbroker was “pure speculation and conjecture.”
In his opening address, barrister Jonathan Martin said Macdonald was not involved in any wrongdoing, adding the 70-year-old was “a very good minister who was passionate about mining in NSW.”
“The Crown case is completely devoid of the contemporary contextual realities present in 2008 and avoids the inconvenient truths of the political activity of that time,” he said.
“It is in fact a reductionist, revisionist attempt to rewrite the history of the exploration licence process and Mr Macdonald’s positive and pragmatic role.”
The Obeids expected to make $60 million by selling a 25 per cent stake in the mining company that won the coal lease after Macdonald leaked confidential information to them about the tender process, prosecutor Sophie Callan said.
But Mr Martin insists there’s no proof Macdonald had exclusive access to departmental documents, adding: “nothing provided was confidential.”
“There is simply no evidence to link the release of any information to Mr Macdonald,” he said.
The Crown states Mount Penny had an estimated coal yield of more than 100 million tonnes but Mr Martin stressed any claims there was potential to expand into the wider area which could yield as much as 700 million tonnes was just speculation.
The Obeids and their family friends bought properties Cherrydale Park, Coggan Creek and Danola hoping to also cash in on mining land use agreements totalling $380,400 per year, Ms Callan said.
But Mr Martin said the purchase of Cherrydale was completed in November 2007, “well before the involvement of the minister Mr Ian Macdonald.”
Furthermore, Eddie Obeid’s barrister April Francis said there’s no proof that Macdonald was ever told exactly where Cherrydale Park was in the Bylong Valley, which stretches nearly 600 square kilometres and encompasses more than 100 properties.
Federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese, former state Labor leader Luke Foley and Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union National Secretary Paul Bastian will be among 53 Crown witnesses giving evidence during the five-month trial.
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Former state premier Morris Iemma will also testify about Macdonald’s long-running friendship with Obeid, with the Crown alleging he was motivated to repay the powerbroker’s past support and secure favourable treatment beyond his political retirement.
But Mr Martin dismissed this theory, stating it “ignores the inconvenient fact that Mr Macdonald had his own political base that ensured his longevity.”
The court heard the pair was constantly in contact due to a debate over electricity privatisation, with Obeid being a “numbers man” in the party’s right faction and Macdonald a key figure of the hard left faction.
Mr Martin said Macdonald pushed the release of new exploration licences because he needed to raise revenue to relieve the budgetary strain of a 2.5 per cent efficiency dividend imposed on the entire government.
“The Crown have greatly underplayed what is a central and vital consideration in this case,” he said.
This meant the private sector copped multimillion-dollar exploration and drilling costs that would have otherwise fallen to the state while boosting mining royalties, which all worked to avoid public service job cuts, the court heard.
The trial before Justice Elizabeth Fullerton continues.
