Cross bench to support compensation, page-2

Here we go people!!!! Should be a very interesting few months for NCR holders given the possible compensation outcomes should be unprecedented in NSW history. I understand some will be pushing for BOF and ICAC to be held accountable

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The next NSW government will be confronted with a bloc ofcrossbenchers in the upper house, possibly holding the balance of power, whoare demanding millions of dollars in compensation for innocent victims of anICAC-driven expropriation of private property. They have signed a pledge acknowledging that 3400innocent shareholders in mining company NuCoal Resources were “unfairly andunreasonably dispossessed of their investments” by special legislation enactedby the NSW parliament. The document they have signed states the NSW parliamentdid not fully understand the consequences for the company’s shareholders of thecancellation of its coal exploration licence in January 2014. The legislation cancelling that licence, while ostensiblygiving effect to an Independent Commission Against Corruption recommendation ,made no mention of ICAC’s associated call for innocent parties to becompensated. No accusation of wrongdoing has ever been made againstNuCoal. The pledge, drawn up by NuCoal Resources, has been signedby two sitting members of the Legislative Council — the Christian DemocraticParty’s Fred Nile and Paul Green — and two candidates in this month’s election — David Leyonhjelm of the Liberal Democrats and MarkLatham of One Nation. The document states: “We advise the incoming governmentthat they must address this legacy injustice as part of their initiallegislative program. We are committed to innocent NuCoal shareholders receivingjust compensation as recommended by the ICAC for the cancelling of theirexploration licence. “We commit to placing compensation as a priority forbusiness of both the upper and lower houses. “We call upon the premier and leader of the opposition tojoin with us to support an objective compensation process,” the document adds. NuCoal chairman Gordon Galt called on the NSW governmentto treat his company’s shareholders in the same manner as shareholders in othercompanies that had been compensated when the state resumed their coalexploration licences. NSW agreed in 2016 to pay BHP Billiton $220 million tobuy back its Carooma licence to protect Liverpool Plains farmland. The following year, the state paid back $262m to Chinesemining company Shenhua when it scaled back another coal exploration licence toprotect the Liverpool Plains. Mr Galt said his company’s priority was compensation forshareholders who included many families in the NSW Hunter Valley who had lostsignificant sums when the government cancelled NuCoal’s licence. “We want, at the very least, all of our money back andsome recognition of the value added that we put in, and that number issomewhere north of $100m,” Mr Galt said. He said the move was not aimed at overturning thecancellation of the licence but aimed to have parliament address ICAC’srecommendation that innocent parties should be compensated. One of those who has signed the NuCoal pledge is MrLeyonhjelm , who is moving from the federal Senate to stand for the LiberalDemocrats in the NSW upper house. He believed crossbenchers would probably hold the balanceof power in the Legislative Council. “It doesn’t matter who wins,” Mr Leyonhjelm said. “Theyare going to be subject to the crossbench in the Legislative Council. “I have been well aware of this issue for ages. “This is an egregious example of private property beingignored and removed with no compensation . Private property is probably themost important thing that a government should protect.” The pledge document states parliament enacted legislationcancelling NuCoal’s exploration licence “without fully understanding theconsequences on NuCoal shareholders, notwithstanding a recommendation by theIndependent Commission Against Corruption that compensation to innocent partiesbe considered” . NuCoal obtained the licence when it bought Doyles CreekMining, chaired by former mining union leader John Maitland, 14 months afterthat company had been allocated the licence by then mining minister IanMacdonald. The Independent Commission Against Corruption later urgedthe government to cancel the licence and compensate the innocent because itbelieved the process of allocating it to Doyles Creek had been corrupt. The government, with the support of the Labor opposition,cancelled the licence in 2014, long before any of the accusations had beentested in court. The NSW Court of Appeal last month quashed theconvictions of Mr Macdonald and Mr Maitland over the way in which the licencehad been issued. They have been freed from prison pending a retrial. The ICAC report that formed the basis for thecancellation also made corruption findings against Doyles Creek directors MikeChester and Andrew Poole, who have never been charged with any offence. Another Doyles Creek director , Craig Ransley, had beenaccused of corruption by ICAC but was exonerated in court in 2017.

CHRIS MERRITT LEGAL AFFAIRS EDITOR