The Obeid – Cascade Coal Conspiracy — the record behind the film.

Investigation into the conduct of Ian Macdonald, Edward Obeid Senior, Moses Obeid and others (Operation Jasper)

The Commission's report of July 2013: corrupt-conduct findings against Edward Obeid Sr, Moses Obeid and Ian Macdonald over the Mount Penny exploration licence, and against the Cascade Coal principals; the Commission's assessment of Gardner Brook's evidence; and its statement that no consideration should be given to his prosecution. The film's account of the inside information, the Cherrydale Park purchase, the concealment behind trusts and the Commission's preference for his account over the Obeids' and the Cascade directors' is taken from this report.

“Magnificent seven's money-making machine” — the Cascade Coal principals

The on-screen descriptions of the Cascade directors — mining magnate Travers Duncan; John McGuigan, former global chairman of Baker & McKenzie; John Kinghorn, founder of RAMS Home Loans; Richard Poole, founder of Arthur Phillip; and John Atkinson, former Baker & McKenzie partner — describe their careers only, as reported by Kate McClymont in the Sydney Morning Herald on 8 December 2012. The Commission's findings concerning them are in the Operation Jasper report (01) and the later court record.

North Bylong – Mt Penny Area (Map 1) and the exploration-licence area

Two maps tendered in the Operation Jasper public inquiry: “North Bylong – Mt Penny Area, Map 1” (prepared 30 May 2008), marked by Gardner Brook in his evidence to show the tenement and the Cherrydale Park holding, and the area map of the Mount Penny exploration licence. Both are discussed in his public-inquiry evidence of 27–28 November 2012.

“$300 million” — the value the press put on the Mount Penny coal licence

The figure on screen is the potential windfall as reported in the Australian press. The Sydney Morning Herald's account of the arithmetic: the Obeids sold a quarter of Cascade Coal for $30 million paid and a further $30 million to come; five of Cascade's seven investors sat on the board of White Energy, which offered $500 million for Cascade — between $50 million and $60 million to each investor. The Herald's contemporaneous reporting (December 2012) adds that Cascade had acquired the Mount Penny exploration licence from the State for $1 million, that the Obeids initially sought $100 million to exit before settling on $60 million, and that the first $30 million was paid through front companies. The figure is presented as the press valuation — the reason the licence was worth conspiring for — not as a finding of the Commission or a court. The Commission's own account of who stood to benefit is in the Operation Jasper report (01).

Section 35 summons and compulsory examination transcript, 12 March 2012

The anchor of the film's “fourteen years”: Gardner Brook was served with an ICAC summons on arrival in Australia in March 2012 and examined in private on 12 March 2012. The transcript is published here in full.

Public inquiry evidence before Commissioner David Ipp AO QC

Gardner Brook's evidence in the public inquiry, given on 27 and 28 November 2012 — including the introduction dispute, the Exhibit J-16 emails, the Cherrydale Park land and the cross-examination on the Selby statement. The Commission's assessment of that evidence (“generally honest and accurate”, given in numerous instances against his own interest) is in the July 2013 report (01).

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Cascade Coal Pty Ltd (No 3) [2018] FCA 1019

The ACCC's Federal Court proceedings for cartel conduct against Cascade Coal, Moses and Paul Obeid, John McGuigan, Richard Poole and others. The ACCC's case was dismissed — Justice Foster found the cartel allegation not made out, and the Full Court dismissed the ACCC's appeal in 2019 ([2019] FCAFC 154). On the witnesses, Justice Foster weighed Gardner Brook's evidence against the documents and the evidence of the Cascade directors and found it “essentially reliable” and consistent with the documentary record, preferring it — on the introduction dispute — to that of John McGuigan. The film's line that a “centrally relevant” witness had left the country and could not be located, while Gardner Brook — also living abroad — attended and gave evidence, is from the Sydney Morning Herald's report of the first day of the hearing.

R v Macdonald; R v Obeid; R v Obeid [2021] NSWSC 1343

The criminal trial (2020) and sentencing (2021) of Ian Macdonald, Edward Obeid Sr and Moses Obeid for conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office over the Mount Penny licence — proved beyond reasonable doubt. Sentences: Macdonald nine years and six months; Edward Obeid seven years; Moses Obeid five years.

Obeid v The King; Obeid v The King; Macdonald v The King [2026] HCA 1

A seven-judge bench of the High Court of Australia unanimously dismissed the appeals against conviction on 4 February 2026. The appellate chain is exhausted. The ABC's report of the decision is the news page reproduced on screen.

Exhibit J-16 — Lehman Brothers emails of 3 and 4 July 2008

During the public inquiry the Commission cross-referenced Gardner Brook's oral evidence against a folder of internal Lehman Brothers emails and digital archives, tendered as Exhibit J-16. The emails of 3 and 4 July 2008, reproduced on screen, corroborate the timeline and the openness of his inquiries about a company holding a coal-mining licence. The exhibit is discussed in the public-inquiry transcript (06).

“Listen to the conversation between the Obeids and Gardner Brook”

The ABC published a recording of a conversation between the Obeids and Gardner Brook on 31 January 2013. The film plays a 50-second excerpt (with two instances of coarse language removed) in which Moses Obeid refers to a call that morning with “John” — John McGuigan — the dealings the Cascade principals had disputed. The excerpt is reproduced with the following attribution, which the film carries on screen:

Witness Arlo Selby leaving the ICAC public inquiry

Seven News footage from the Operation Jasper public inquiry, Sydney, 2012, shown in the film after the account of Mr Selby's evidence. In the witness box he swore that the five-page statement he had signed before the hearings was made under duress; the Commission put to him that either the statement was true or he had joined an attempt to extract money from Gardner Brook. Gardner Brook's evidence on the statement is in the transcript (06).

“Fact and fiction blur the lines in a deal-maker's life”

Published on 14 November 2012 — days before Gardner Brook gave his public evidence, and eight months before the Commission reported. The article's contested points, and the official findings that followed it, are answered in full on The Record and on the standalone rebuttal site.

The later coverage — and the audit that answered it

Between 2015 and 2018 The Australian ran a series resurrecting the 2012 allegations as fresh revelations. Each point raised — the CV, the medical report, the supposed “secret deal” — was examined by the Inspector of the ICAC (15) and, in the case of the “secret deal”, by the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the NSW Bar Council (17–19).

Report concerning the non-disclosure of information relating to Mr Paul Gardner Brook during Operations Jasper and Credo

The Inspector's Special Report examined the CV allegation (known to the Commission from the private examination in 2012 and weighed before it rated his evidence honest), the medical report (supplied by his own legal team before the hearings) and the conduct of the Commission, and found no misconduct. The cover reproduced on screen is the Inspector's published report.

Duncan v Ipp — the bid to disqualify the Commissioner before he reported

In April 2013 — three months before the Operation Jasper report was delivered — Travers Duncan went to the Supreme Court of New South Wales to have Commissioner Ipp removed from the inquiry for bias and to stop its findings being delivered. The application was dismissed (Justice Hoeben, April 2013). The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal (Duncan v Ipp [2013] NSWCA 189), and on 25 July 2013 the High Court of Australia refused special leave to appeal; the report was delivered the following week. The Commissioner's own account, a year later: “It went to three courts and he lost before every judge in every court.” The film's reference to this challenge, on the “secret deal” card, is drawn from this record.

Obeid v Ipp [2016] NSWSC 1376 — the misfeasance suit against the Commissioner

In 2015 the Obeids sued Commissioner David Ipp for misfeasance in public office. Pleaded within that claim was the allegation that Gardner Brook had an undisclosed arrangement with the Commission and that evidence had been manipulated. The allegation was withdrawn before trial; the case was dismissed (Hammerschlag J, 27 September 2016).

“unmaintainable and irresponsibly made”

The words on screen are the Court's own, from the indemnity-costs judgment of 20 March 2017, [2017] NSWSC 271 at [19]. The gross sum of costs was later fixed at more than $5 million ([2020] NSWSC 1329), as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald on 30 September 2020.

Unsatisfactory professional conduct — the reprimand and the apology

In October 2018 the New South Wales Bar Council found that the Obeids' senior counsel, Robert Newlinds SC, had engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct in advancing the withdrawn allegations, reprimanded him and ordered him to apologise to Mr Ipp. The apology letter reproduced on screen is dated 1 November 2018. The finding was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald on 31 October 2018.

Editor's note to “Obeid Inc.” — his evidence was given of his own free will and in good faith

“The ABC wishes to clarify that this program did not suggest that Mr Gardner Brook gave evidence for the Crown in order to avoid being prosecuted himself … Mr Brook was never charged with any criminal offence and the program did not in any way suggest he would have been prosecuted had he not been a Crown witness.”

The note is re-typeset on screen in full from the ABC's published text.

Nationally coordinated criminal-history check — zero disclosable court outcomes

The verification page shown on screen is the result of a nationally coordinated criminal-history check obtained in September 2026: no disclosable court outcomes. The result can be verified against the check's reference on the provider's verification service.