Former NSW MP Ian Macdonald sentenced to at least seven years behind bars

Disgraced former NSW minister Ian Macdonald has been sentenced to at least seven years behind bars.

Macdonald, 68, was convicted for signing over a valuable coal exploration licence to Doyles Creek Mining, a company chaired by ex-union boss John Maitland, when he was NSW resources minister in 2008. He was today sentenced to a maximum ten years.

Maitland, 71, 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.

He was today sentenced to at least four years behind bars.

In sentencing, Justice Christine Adamson said Macdonald "damaged the institutions of government and the public’s confidence in them".

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Macdonald and Maitland were sentenced in Sydney's Supreme Court today, a week after Justice Adamson revoked their bail, which she had continued after they were convicted in March.

At a sentence hearing last Friday, prosecutor Michael McHugh SC said the misconduct warranted full-time custody.

Macdonald's barrister Matthew Johnston SC tendered a number of references, including one from broadcaster Alan Jones.