Three former Labor ministers to stand trial over alleged misconduct in public office

By Kate McClymont

February 22, 2024 — 5.49pm

Three former state Labor ministers have been committed to stand trial for misconduct in public office. The charges against the three former ministers, Joe Tripodi, Tony Kelly and Eddie Obeid, stem from a corruption inquiry that alleged that Tripodi and Kelly were involved in the doctoring of a cabinet submission that could have provided a financial windfall to the family of their colleague Obeid.

2014, the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard that the allegedly doctored cabinet minute had been signed by then-infrastructure minister Kelly in May 2010.

It painted a glowing picture of a water infrastructure company with links to the Obeid family.

The minute recommended a billion-dollar public-private partnership in which the NSW government would pay Australian Water Holdings (AWH) to provide water infrastructure to western Sydney.

However, the original minute, which ICAC heard had been written by Brian McGlynn, an expert retained by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, had recommended the complete opposite.

McGlynn had noted that AWH had assets worth only $36, and the partnership would be an extremely poor deal for the people of NSW. He also said that on a scale of one to 100, he rated the AWH proposal somewhere between zero and 10.

Kristina Keneally, who was NSW premier at the time, ordered the allegedly reworked Cabinet minute be withdrawn.

Prosecutors have previously outlined that they will allege that Obeid wilfully misconducted himself between July 1, 2007 and August 30, 2010, by attempting to influence his parliamentary colleagues, former premiers Morris Iemma, Nathan Rees and Keneally, former treasurer Michael Costa and former water minister Phillip Costa “to promote the interests of Australian Water Holdings Pty Ltd, without reasonable cause or justification”, according to court documents.

After attending court on Thursday morning, Tripodi headed off to Sydney Fish Market which was once part of his ministerial portfolio as ports minister.

Joe Tripodi (left) arrived at Sydney Fish Market for lunch on Thursday with his lawyer Bassam Kazi after appearing in court on corruption charges.CREDIT: NICK MOIR

Kelly, 75, and Tripodi, 56, will be required to enter a plea when they appear at the District Court for an arraignment on 22 March.

Obeid, 80, who is currently in Kirkconnell prison near Bathurst, will appear by an audiovisual link. In October 2021, the former fisheries minister was sentenced to three years and ten months non-parole over a corrupt government tender for a mining exploration licence, which saw another former Labor minister, Ian Macdonald, also jailed.

Tripodi, a former finance minister, also faces separate misconduct in public office charges relating to leaking confidential information gained from his position as an MP to advantage a company associated with billionaire-turned-bankrupt Nathan Tinkler.

The former mining magnate’s bankruptcy was later annulled in 2018 after two years. In more recent years, he has staved off other attempts to bankrupt him, including a $30,000 claim by a clairvoyant/ life coach and a $100,000 debt claimed to be owed to a veterinary clinic.

Tripodi has been excused from attending the next court mention on 16 May relating to that matter. He is yet to enter a plea but is expected to contest the charge.