JERRYS Plains farmer Ian Moore says he is pleased the High Court unanimously upheld the state government’s decision to extinguish NuCoal’s Doyles Creek exploration license (EL) 7270 without providing any compensation to those involved.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“In my opinion if there are any innocent investors they should sue the directors,” he says.
Mr Moore even had a beer to celebrate as the battle to save his Apple Tree Flat farm has been both emotionally and financially draining.
“A lot of people said I was mad and that I would never be able to stop a coal mine,” he says.
“This is a very good decision for the future of the country, the level of corruption was out of control, and it proves if you step over the line you will get caught.”
The decision was handed down on Wednesday after listed company NuCoal, along with private mining company Cascade Coal and its former director Travers Duncan, went to the High Court in the hope they could get the NSW laws, cancelling the companies’ multi-million-dollar licences, overturned.
The laws were enacted in January last year in response to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) findings they were “so tainted by corruption” they should be “expunged or cancelled”.
The Doyles Creek EL was granted by the former Labor Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald, by direct allocation, to a group of businessmen in December 2008.
These businessmen, former union boss John Maitland, Craig Ransley, Andrew Poole and Michael Chester along with Mr Macdonald, were all found by ICAC to have acted corruptly in the granting and obtaining it.
Cascade Coal held both the Mt Penny EL in the Bylong Valley and Glendon Brook EL over land near Sedgefield.
Similarly, ICAC found Mr Macdonald and the businessmen behind Cascade Coal, Duncan Travers, John McGuigan, John Atkinson and Richard Poole had acted corruptly in relation to the licences for Mt Penny and Glendon Brook - a decision they are currently appealing in the High Court.
Mr Moore is not against mining and admits we do need to utilise this resource but not at the cost of the agricultural industry.
“The Hunter Valley should be a no-go area forever, if our country is to have a future we need to preserve our prime agricultural land and our aquifers,” he says.
“The word balance is used a lot but nothing has been done by the elected government to make this happen and safeguard the area.”
He also praised the work of the ICAC saying they do a remarkable job.
However, when it comes to corruption he says they have only just “scratched the surface”.
“If we did not stand up and fight, I have no doubt there would be a working mine here now,” he says.
