Former union boss John Maitland has once again been accused of being untruthful to the ICAC inquiry. Source: AAP
FORMER mining union boss John Maitland was motivated by money rather than a "passion" to create a centre of excellence when he sought a mining licence in the NSW Hunter region, a corruption inquiry has been told.
The granting of the coal exploration licence at Doyles Creek in the Hunter Valley is being investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
The licence, given by then mining minister Ian Macdonald to Mr Maitland and a group of entrepreneurs, was approved in 2008 without a competitive tender.
Mr Maitland's $165,000 investment turned into about $15 million when the licence was sold, the ICAC has been told, in a deal described as a financial disaster for the people of NSW.
Mr Maitland told ICAC lawyer Peter Braham, SC, he had "a passion" to develop the mine.
"My passion was to get this mine up and I believed it could become a centre of excellence and something that could be a massive benefit to the state," Mr Maitland said.
"You had a passion for the idea of a training mine because it might help you get a commercial mine," Mr Braham said.
"No," Mr Maitland said.
"You've made a large amount of money from out of the commercial aspect of this enterprise, haven't you?" Mr Braham said.
"Many million of dollars, haven't you?"
"I've been fortunate," Mr Maitland replied.
"Fifteen million dollars, is that a fair assessment of what you've made?" Mr Braham said.
"No," Mr Maitland said.
"That's really the source of your passion, isn't it - the money?" Mr Braham said.
"If you had any passion whatsoever for a training mine or any training facility at all, then your fingerprints would be all over the proposal that was developed to build the training facility."
Mr Maitland said he was concerned about a shortage of mining skills and wanted young miners to train at the facility.
The former head of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) was accused of lying to the inquiry for a second consecutive day after he repeatedly dodged questions about a document in which he said the Doyles Creek site had a resource of 91 million tonnes of coal.
In reality, the mine had an estimated 308 million tonnes of coal.
Mr Maitland said the 91-million-tonne figure was how much his group had intended to mine and not how much coal the mine contained.
"You're making it up," Mr Braham said.
"Not at all," Mr Maitland said.
The hearing continues.
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