NSW ICAC in bid to curb coal mining corruption Former Labor minister Eddie Obeid was found to have acted corruptly over a coal exploration licence. CORRUPT conduct involving NSW coal licences was almost inevitable given the incentives and opportunities, a corruption watchdog has found. In a report into how to prevent future occurrences of the sort that saw NSW Labor MP Eddie Obeid profit by between $30 and $100 million from gaining a coal exploration licence over his family farm, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has recommended wide-ranging changes to ministerial discretion and power. Both Mr Obeid and former Labor mining minister Ian Macdonald were found guilty of corrupt conduct by ICAC earlier this year. The ICAC report says: "The execution of the grand corruption was ultimately due to the improper influences on an unfettered minister, his disdain for department advice and secret meetings with proponents. In preparing this report, the question facing the commission was not simply how the state's policy and regulatory framework could allow coal ELs (exploration licences) of great value to be corruptly provided to favoured recipients, but how it could have been so easy to do so. The ICAC recommended that exploration licences be allocated by an auction system overseen by NSW Treasury. In a move which will shake up the coal industry, it also says that the current system of renewing exploration licences be replaced with "exponentially escalating lease rent" so that there is no incentive to renew licences without progressing to mining. Coal licences should be granted on the basis of defined criteria, which fitted into overall state goals. The ICAC also recommended changes to MPs' code of conduct, the ministerial code of conduct and the pecuniary interest disclosure system. This would include that MPs be required to disclose the financial interests of spouses and children, and that the privileges committee appoint an investigator. Ministers would be banned from demanding that NSW government agencies change recommendations in instances where the organisation believes that a recommendation ought to be made. As well, the MPs' code of conduct will be amended to deal with improper influence by members, and ministerial staff will be subject to a "best practice guide."