He is standing trial for allegedly doing a favour for a "mate" but former NSW Labor minister Ian Macdonald denies he was friends with a former union boss who benefited from one of his decisions, his lawyer has told a Sydney court.
Claps of thunder rang out in the Supreme Court in Darlinghurst as Mr Macdonald's barrister, Matthew Johnston, SC, delivered his opening address to the jury on day two of the former minister's criminal trial.
Mr Macdonald is charged with two counts of misconduct in public office for inviting private company Doyles Creek Mining to apply for, and later granting it, a lucrative coal exploration licence in 2008 without a competitive tender.
The Crown alleges Mr Macdonald was doing a favour for his Labor colleague and "mate" John Maitland, a former head of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, who was chair of Doyles Creek Mining.
The court has heard Mr Maitland made more than $6 million when he sold a parcel of shares in a company which acquired Doyles Creek Mining after the licence was granted.
The former union boss is facing two charges of being an accessory before the fact.
But Mr Johnston said "it is not accepted Mr Macdonald and Mr Maitland were mates" and the word "mate" in the "Australian vernacular" might also be used to greet a stranger.
"They were not friends," Mr Johnston said.
They were "associates only in the professional sense" and Mr Macdonald made his decisions "on their merits".
Mr Maitland's barrister, Dean Jordan, SC, added the pair "were not close personal friends" and "certainly not mates in any real, meaningful sense" that would prompt Mr Macdonald to "abandon his duties" and make a decision favouring him.
Mr Jordan said it was for the prosecution to prove the "crass cynicism" levelled against his client.
The Crown has told the jury Mr Maitland supported Mr Macdonald's bid for preselection for a NSW upper house seat in 2007.
But Mr Johnston said there was "no debt" owed to Mr Maitland and the defence "strongly disputed" claims Mr Macdonald believed the former union boss might be useful to him in his post-political career.
He said Mr Macdonald believed he was acting "in the best interests of the state".
The Doyles Creek Mining proposal was "novel" because it included a training mine facility and Mr Macdonald had "made mine safety a priority", Mr Johnston said.
"There were irregularities because it was an unusual application ... but there was nothing improper about it," he said.
He said Mr Macdonald was legally empowered to grant the coal licence without a competitive tender and believed the decision was "perfectly appropriate".
Crown prosecutor Michael McHugh, SC, told the jury on Monday the licence was worth tens of millions of dollars and was granted at a time when NSW was facing "budget constraints".
The court heard a BHP subsidiary paid $91 million in 2006 to explore for coal at Caroona in NSW while China Shenhua Energy Limited paid $276 million in 2008 for its Watermark licence. Doyles Creek Mining made no such payment.
But Mr Johnston said Doyles Creek's proposal had other benefits to the state such as a plan for a centre for excellence in mining at the nearby University of Newcastle.
The trial continues.