Lawyers for former NSW resources minister Ian Macdonald say his sentence for public corruption alongside Eddie Obeid should be reconsidered because it was never proven he received payment.
Macdonald’s barrister Christopher Parkin also argued the nature of the offence was tempered by the state suffering no direct financial impact.
“We say there’s an incoherency or an inconsistency here,” Mr Parkin told a Supreme Court hearing in Sydney on Tuesday.
“I submit that the absence of demonstrated motive is a matter which needs to be given greater weight by this court.”
Macdonald is appealing a sentence handed down by Justice Elizabeth Fullerton for corruptly granting mining licences to Eddie Obeid’s family, over which the former NSW minister and his son Moses were also convicted.
Macdonald listened to the proceedings via video-link from Lithgow prison, having failed to be granted bail while the appeal takes place.
Lawyers for the 74-year-old presented a range of challenges to his sentence which carries a non-parole period of five years and three months.
Elizabeth Nicholson from the Director of Public Prosecutions argued MacDonald’s motives in assisting the Obeids did not alter the seriousness of his corruption.
“The gravamen of the offending is that the minister was willing to breach his very onerous and serious duties to the people of NSW in order to benefit a select few individuals for his own reasons,” Ms Nicholson said.
“It does not, with respect, make it less serious that Her Honour could not be satisfied as to what the motive was.
“Her Honour did not find that there was no motive for offending. Her Honour said there was an absence of evidence of motive. That is a different finding.”
Macdonald, along with Eddie and Moses Obeid, were found guilty in a judge-alone trial in October 2021.
Justice Fullerton ruled Macdonald conspired to commit misconduct in public office, including through the granting of a coal exploration licence on property owned by the Obeids at Bylong Valley, near the Upper Hunter region, leading to a $30 million windfall.
In her judgment, Justice Fullerton said the conspiracy agreement was made for Macdonald to “do what he could, if and when the opportunity presented” in relation to granting the licence.
The appeal continues.