Daily Telegraph: 'Lithgow mine scandal -NSW Planning Minister Brad Hazzard's chief of staff Kath McFarlane has property near rejected mine.'
"A COAL mine extension proposed near Blue Mountains properties owned by the state Planning Minister's chief of staff was knocked back by the planning department, despite NSW Treasury warnings a rejection would drive power prices up 4 to 12 per cent and cost 500 jobs.
Neither Planning Minister Brad Hazzard nor his chief of staff Kath McFarlane ever declared her interest - four properties on 42ha she and her husband bought in 2007 overlooking the site - to Coalpac during meetings between the company, the minister and Ms McFarlane.
Coalpac's chief executive Ian Follington said yesterday he held several meetings with Mr Hazzard with Ms McFarlane present and there had been no mention she had property that overlooked the site or was near the site.
"Some of the early meetings we had with the minister she sat in on," Mr Follington said. "She's been in the process ... because everything that goes through the minister's department would go through the chief of staff."
Full details
The Daily Telegraph
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lithgow-mine-scandal-nsw-planning-minister-brad-hazzards-chief-of-staff-kath-mcfarlane-has-property-near-rejected-mine/story-fni0cx12-1226750039974
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