Sean Nicholls Sydney Morning Herald State Political Editor
March 14, 2013
EXCLUSIVE
Looking to take action: NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson. Photo: Wolter Peeters
Former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald are set to be expelled from the party within days after a call by NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson following evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Mr Robertson wrote to NSW Labor Party general secretary Sam Dastyari on Wednesday.
''I write to request that you expel Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald from the Labor Party immediately on the basis that they have brought the party into disrepute,'' he wrote.
''Brought the party into disrepute'': Ian Macdonald.
''These are extraordinary circumstances and I request you take action as soon as practicable.''
Mr Robertson called for the suspension of Mr Obeid's party membership in November after the first day of public hearings at the ICAC.
The commission is examining allegations that the former Labor powerbroker's family gained tens of millions of dollars from the decision of Mr Macdonald, his then Labor colleague, to award coal exploration licences.
Eddie Obeid. Photo: Michele Mossop
The ICAC had just heard NSW taxpayers missed out on ''tens of millions of dollars'' due to a scheme designed to allegedly net the Obeid family $100 million.
In his opening address, counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson, SC, said the scheme could represent corruption ''unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps''.
Mr Obeid's party membership was formally suspended by NSW Labor within days.
Mr Macdonald's membership was suspended at Mr Robertson's request during an earlier ICAC hearing in December 2011.
Meanwhile, a NSW Greens MP is accusing the major parties of trying to impede a proper investigation of whether documents relating to a mining licence issued by Mr Macdonald were withheld from Parliament.
Greens mining spokesman Jeremy Buckingham has accused the government and opposition of colluding to prevent the ICAC from investigating the issue by insisting any inquiry be conducted by a parliamentary committee.
The ICAC has asked a senior investigator to conduct a preliminary investigation into whether documents relating to the decision by Mr Macdonald to reopen a tender for a coal exploration licence at Mount Penny in the Bylong Valley were withheld from the NSW upper house in 2009.
The investigator has been asked to compare documents produced to the upper house with those discovered by the ICAC. The documents are covered by parliamentary privilege and cannot be used by the ICAC to investigate the proceedings of Parliament.
But, instead of legislating to waive privilege, as it did last October when the ICAC sought access to the register of financial and other interests held by MPs, the government wants any investigation to be carried out by the privileges committee of Parliament.
The leader of the house in the Legislative Council, Duncan Gay, who called for the papers to be produced while in opposition in 2009, told Parliament on Tuesday that ''it is ultimately for the House to determine whether its order for papers has been complied with''.
But Mr Buckingham said the move should be of grave concern to the public.
