WHILE many eyes were trained yesterday on the explosive ICAC evidence of Premier Gladys Berejiklian's clandestine relationship with disgraced former Wagga MP Daryl Maguire, a long-awaited court case with big implications for the Hunter Region was beginning nearby.
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This prosecution was brought almost two years ago, in December 2018, by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, over the way that Port Botany had been privatised in 2013 with a set of confidential protections that severely impacted on the Port of Newcastle's ability to compete with Botany on the container trade, when it was privatised a year later, in 2014.
The main ACCC case has been brought against the Botany consortium, NSW Ports, but ACCC chair Rod Sims has made it repeatedly clear that his real target is the NSW government, on the grounds that it put the lure of a windfall cash injection from the Botany lessees ahead of the broader economic interests of the state in general, and this region in particular.
Although yesterday was the first day of the main Federal Court proceedings, the Commonwealth Courts Portal reveals more than 40 preliminary appearances since December 2018, as the various parties skirmished back and forth over a range of matters - including the lodging of cross cases and the handling of dozens of documents that one or more of the participants wished to keep confidential.
Given some of the details that have emerged in dribs and drabs over the years, the desire to maintain confidentiality is hardly surprising, but it is clearly in the public interest that as much as possible of this recent era of political history is laid open for appraisal.
The Coalition state government repeatedly denied that there were any such restrictions on a Newcastle container terminal until the Newcastle Herald obtained and published incontrovertible evidence in 2016.
The government and NSW Ports have repeatedly maintained at various times that a Newcastle container terminal would never stack up financially.
Then and now, the fundamental question remains: if a Newcastle container terminal would not be a viable proposition, why the need to block one from being built?
The answer to this and other crucial questions will hopefully emerge as the ACCC prosecution progresses.
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