"Brazen and devious", former NSW minister Ian Macdonald betrayed the state when he granted a rich mining licence to a friend, but intends to appeal his seven-year jail term.
Macdonald continued to deny any wrongdoing after being sentenced on Friday, saying through his lawyer his intention as mineral resources minister "was always to act in the public interest and save miners' lives".
But NSW Supreme Court Justice Christine Adamson said Macdonald was brazen and devious and tried to conceal his real motivation.
"There are no isolated victims of crimes such as these since the harm was done to the community as a whole," Justice Adamson said.
"The people of NSW were betrayed by Mr Macdonald's conduct."
She said his offence was "extremely serious" and he "was guilty of gross breaches of the trust that Parliament placed in him."
The 68-year-old was found guilty by a jury in March of two counts of wilful misconduct in public office after signing over a NSW Hunter Valley mining licence in 2008 without a competitive tender to Doyles Creek Mining, chaired by his friend and former union boss John Maitland.
Maitland was also sentenced on Friday to up to six years behind bars with a minimum term of four years.
Maitland, who made $6 million selling shares in a company that acquired Doyles Creek Mining after the licence was granted, was found guilty of being an accessory to the misconduct.
The judge said Macdonald attempted "to justify the unjustifiable" by explaining that a training mine included in Doyles Creek's proposal would promote mine safety and help save lives.
But she said Macdonald knew he could have made it a condition of any lease awarded through a competitive tender process.
"The training mine was little more than a device to make the whole proposal appear to be in the public interest and conceal Mr Macdonald's real motivation," the judge said.
The prosecution argued Macdonald committed his offences for financial gain but Justice Adamson said other motivation included an "arbitrary exercise of power".
But the disgraced politician vowed to fight the decision.
"I look forward to pursuing this matter on appeal," Macdonald said immediately after Justice Adamson sentenced him to a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Justice Adamson said Macdonald had been told Doyles Creek was classified as a major stand-alone area under government guidelines, meaning the coal exploration licence should be granted by tender or expression of interest.
"The coal resources of NSW, which should have been used for the benefit of the whole society, were squandered by the criminal conduct of the very person who was trusted to safeguard them," she said.
Macdonald joins his former political ally Eddie Obeid behind bars.
Obeid was sentenced in December to at least three years jail for lobbying a senior public servant about lucrative Circular Quay leases without revealing his family's stake in the outlets.
Macdonald was dubbed "Eddie Obeid's left testicle" by some within the ALP it emerged during ICAC hearings into Labor ministers and their handling of coal exploration licences in NSW.
Macdonald will be eligible for parole in May 2024 while Maitland will be eligible in May 2021.
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