NATION Former pollie sent to prison
DEVIOUS and corrupt former Labor minister Ian Macdonald will spend at least seven years in jail after he “betrayed” the people of NSW with his “brazen” misconduct in public office.
Yesterday the 68- year- old was sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison by a scathing judge who said the scheming politician was guilty of “gross breaches of trust” after he granted a lucrative coal licence to his mate and ex- union boss John Maitland when he was a minister.
Maitland, 71, who made $ 6 million from the dodgy deal, was sentenced to a minimum of four and maximum of six years’ jail in the NSW Supreme Court.
During the mammoth three- and- a- half hour sentencing, Justice Christine Adamson said Macdonald was “reckless” and had granted the licence to Maitland “without reasonable cause of justification”.
“The people of NSW were betrayed by Mr Macdonald’s conduct,” Justice Adamson said.
“Mr Macdonald was guilty of gross breaches of the trust that parliament had placed in him. His offending is extremely serious.
“The offenders’ conduct damaged the institutions of government and public confi- dence in them, which resulted in widespread harm to the community. It tainted the state’s reputation,” Justice Adamson said.
Opposition Leader Luke Foley, who took the stand during the trial, said the sentencing had vindicated the Independent Commission Against Corruption which made corrupt findings against Macdonald.
“[ The sentencing] serves as a reminder of the high standards of integrity that are expected of Members of Parliament,” he said.
Justice Adamson stressed Macdonald’s criminal offending was far more serious than that of his political ally Eddie Obeid who is serving a maximum five- year sentence in jail for his corrupt dealings over Circular Quay cafe leases.
Moments after he was sentenced Macdonald said he would appeal his conviction and that the exploration licence was granted in the public interest and to “save miners’ lives”.
While he waits to be classified in Silverwater jail, Macdonald will have time to work on his defence for his next trial alongside Obeid and his son Moses over another coal deal relating to the Obeid’s Mount Penny property in the Bylong Valley.
Macdonald will be eligible for parole in 2024 and Maitland in 2021. THERE’S a smell in here that will outlast religion.
Eleven years after Australians caught a whiff of those immortal words and fell in love with portaloo king Kenny, the brothers behind that $ 8 million box office hit are finally making another movie together.
Shane and Clayton Jacobson have reunited to play bickering brothers in Sibling Rivalry, which is filming in Bungal, a farming community part way between Melbourne and Ballarat.
“Kenny was the catapult – we both went off and took advantage of whatever came along,” elder brother Clayton said on the set of the new film. “But always we were talking about doing stuff together.
“This project came along and it was perfect timing.”
Two weeks into their five- week shoot, the Sibling Rivalry laughter.
The dark comedy follows the brothers’ plot to take their stepfather, the beneficiary of their dying mother’s will, out of play.
Shane, who since Kenny has gone on to star in the likes of Oddball, The Bourne Legacy, The Dressmaker and TV series The Time Of Their Lives, thinks the new movie will “surprise a lot of people”.
“Because it’s not another very different beast,” he said.
Clayton is also directing Sibling Rivalry. Most of the movie is being shot on one property, owned by a retired meteorologist whose treasure trove of rusty old car parts and restored antique radio sets which have become a part of the movie.
Sibling Rivalry will reach cinemas 2018. When disaster struck, locals stepped up. Celebrate the heroes who fought back when Severe Tropical Cyclone Debbie and its aftermath smashed two states. ‘ Defying Debbie’ tells their stories of triumph and hope in a special commemorative publication on sale now. set is filled only with Kenny, it’s a in