Latest news with #HealthyHeadwaters
The Advertiser
16-07-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
Ex-cotton grower sentenced for $8.7 million irrigation fraud
A former southern Queensland cotton grower has been told how long he will remain behind bars after he was sentenced for multiple fraud offences in a Brisbane court on July 16. John Douglas Norman appeared before the court after he was remanded in custody at his last appearance in June 2025. Norman, who entered a plea of guilty on April 28 to six counts of fraud adding up to a value of around $8.7 million, was given a head sentence of 9.5 years by Judge Bernard Porter KC, and will have to spend at least three of those years in custody before he will be eligible for parole. Judge Porter said he had "no doubt Mr Norman will not commit another offence like this". "I have no doubt that he regrets what he did," he said. During the June 25 sentencing hearing, Norman's defence barrister Jeffrey Hunter KC spoke to the nature of Norman's offending and stated it was not "a particularly elaborate scheme". "The record keeping, such if there was any, was utterly shambolic," Mr Hunter said. "Even after the event, it was not possible for the defendant to identify which invoices related to the Healthy Headwaters work." When delivering the sentence, Judge Porter did not accept Mr Norman's ADHD diagnosis was an excuse for his fraudulent offending. He also noted that the case was "nothing like a Ponzi scheme or an insurance fraud case". Judge Porter sentenced Norman to 9.5 years on each count of fraud, to be served concurrently, with 21 days of pre-sentence custody to be observed. He will be eligible for parole on June 24, 2028. Norman, who has a wife and four children aged between 15 and 21, was supported in court by a contingent of family and friends. Norman was initially charged in 2018 with six fraud charges, as well as six other charges related to the falsification of records, which have since been discontinued. He had been accused of committing fraud to a value of $12 million, but in April 2025, the amount was reduced to $8.7 million and Norman entered his guilty plea, about three weeks before he was due to face trial. Norman's chief financial officer, Stephen Evans, was also charged with four similar fraud counts for allegedly helping to lodge the claims after he started working for Mr Norman's business in 2013. Evans received a head sentence of four years and six months, suspended after serving nine months. It was alleged that Norman submitted fraudulent claims to six projects managed by the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy between 2010 and 2017. The claims related to the Healthy Headwaters Water Use Efficiency project, which helped Queensland's Murray-Darling Basin irrigation communities deal with climate change and reduced water availability. Under the program, irrigators were granted funds to undertake on-farm infrastructure projects to increase water use efficiency, such as improving water storage. A former southern Queensland cotton grower has been told how long he will remain behind bars after he was sentenced for multiple fraud offences in a Brisbane court on July 16. John Douglas Norman appeared before the court after he was remanded in custody at his last appearance in June 2025. Norman, who entered a plea of guilty on April 28 to six counts of fraud adding up to a value of around $8.7 million, was given a head sentence of 9.5 years by Judge Bernard Porter KC, and will have to spend at least three of those years in custody before he will be eligible for parole. Judge Porter said he had "no doubt Mr Norman will not commit another offence like this". "I have no doubt that he regrets what he did," he said. During the June 25 sentencing hearing, Norman's defence barrister Jeffrey Hunter KC spoke to the nature of Norman's offending and stated it was not "a particularly elaborate scheme". "The record keeping, such if there was any, was utterly shambolic," Mr Hunter said. "Even after the event, it was not possible for the defendant to identify which invoices related to the Healthy Headwaters work." When delivering the sentence, Judge Porter did not accept Mr Norman's ADHD diagnosis was an excuse for his fraudulent offending. He also noted that the case was "nothing like a Ponzi scheme or an insurance fraud case". Judge Porter sentenced Norman to 9.5 years on each count of fraud, to be served concurrently, with 21 days of pre-sentence custody to be observed. He will be eligible for parole on June 24, 2028. Norman, who has a wife and four children aged between 15 and 21, was supported in court by a contingent of family and friends. Norman was initially charged in 2018 with six fraud charges, as well as six other charges related to the falsification of records, which have since been discontinued. He had been accused of committing fraud to a value of $12 million, but in April 2025, the amount was reduced to $8.7 million and Norman entered his guilty plea, about three weeks before he was due to face trial. Norman's chief financial officer, Stephen Evans, was also charged with four similar fraud counts for allegedly helping to lodge the claims after he started working for Mr Norman's business in 2013. Evans received a head sentence of four years and six months, suspended after serving nine months. It was alleged that Norman submitted fraudulent claims to six projects managed by the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy between 2010 and 2017. The claims related to the Healthy Headwaters Water Use Efficiency project, which helped Queensland's Murray-Darling Basin irrigation communities deal with climate change and reduced water availability. Under the program, irrigators were granted funds to undertake on-farm infrastructure projects to increase water use efficiency, such as improving water storage. A former southern Queensland cotton grower has been told how long he will remain behind bars after he was sentenced for multiple fraud offences in a Brisbane court on July 16. John Douglas Norman appeared before the court after he was remanded in custody at his last appearance in June 2025. Norman, who entered a plea of guilty on April 28 to six counts of fraud adding up to a value of around $8.7 million, was given a head sentence of 9.5 years by Judge Bernard Porter KC, and will have to spend at least three of those years in custody before he will be eligible for parole. Judge Porter said he had "no doubt Mr Norman will not commit another offence like this". "I have no doubt that he regrets what he did," he said. During the June 25 sentencing hearing, Norman's defence barrister Jeffrey Hunter KC spoke to the nature of Norman's offending and stated it was not "a particularly elaborate scheme". "The record keeping, such if there was any, was utterly shambolic," Mr Hunter said. "Even after the event, it was not possible for the defendant to identify which invoices related to the Healthy Headwaters work." When delivering the sentence, Judge Porter did not accept Mr Norman's ADHD diagnosis was an excuse for his fraudulent offending. He also noted that the case was "nothing like a Ponzi scheme or an insurance fraud case". Judge Porter sentenced Norman to 9.5 years on each count of fraud, to be served concurrently, with 21 days of pre-sentence custody to be observed. He will be eligible for parole on June 24, 2028. Norman, who has a wife and four children aged between 15 and 21, was supported in court by a contingent of family and friends. Norman was initially charged in 2018 with six fraud charges, as well as six other charges related to the falsification of records, which have since been discontinued. He had been accused of committing fraud to a value of $12 million, but in April 2025, the amount was reduced to $8.7 million and Norman entered his guilty plea, about three weeks before he was due to face trial. Norman's chief financial officer, Stephen Evans, was also charged with four similar fraud counts for allegedly helping to lodge the claims after he started working for Mr Norman's business in 2013. Evans received a head sentence of four years and six months, suspended after serving nine months. It was alleged that Norman submitted fraudulent claims to six projects managed by the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy between 2010 and 2017. The claims related to the Healthy Headwaters Water Use Efficiency project, which helped Queensland's Murray-Darling Basin irrigation communities deal with climate change and reduced water availability. Under the program, irrigators were granted funds to undertake on-farm infrastructure projects to increase water use efficiency, such as improving water storage. A former southern Queensland cotton grower has been told how long he will remain behind bars after he was sentenced for multiple fraud offences in a Brisbane court on July 16. John Douglas Norman appeared before the court after he was remanded in custody at his last appearance in June 2025. Norman, who entered a plea of guilty on April 28 to six counts of fraud adding up to a value of around $8.7 million, was given a head sentence of 9.5 years by Judge Bernard Porter KC, and will have to spend at least three of those years in custody before he will be eligible for parole. Judge Porter said he had "no doubt Mr Norman will not commit another offence like this". "I have no doubt that he regrets what he did," he said. During the June 25 sentencing hearing, Norman's defence barrister Jeffrey Hunter KC spoke to the nature of Norman's offending and stated it was not "a particularly elaborate scheme". "The record keeping, such if there was any, was utterly shambolic," Mr Hunter said. "Even after the event, it was not possible for the defendant to identify which invoices related to the Healthy Headwaters work." When delivering the sentence, Judge Porter did not accept Mr Norman's ADHD diagnosis was an excuse for his fraudulent offending. He also noted that the case was "nothing like a Ponzi scheme or an insurance fraud case". Judge Porter sentenced Norman to 9.5 years on each count of fraud, to be served concurrently, with 21 days of pre-sentence custody to be observed. He will be eligible for parole on June 24, 2028. Norman, who has a wife and four children aged between 15 and 21, was supported in court by a contingent of family and friends. Norman was initially charged in 2018 with six fraud charges, as well as six other charges related to the falsification of records, which have since been discontinued. He had been accused of committing fraud to a value of $12 million, but in April 2025, the amount was reduced to $8.7 million and Norman entered his guilty plea, about three weeks before he was due to face trial. Norman's chief financial officer, Stephen Evans, was also charged with four similar fraud counts for allegedly helping to lodge the claims after he started working for Mr Norman's business in 2013. Evans received a head sentence of four years and six months, suspended after serving nine months. It was alleged that Norman submitted fraudulent claims to six projects managed by the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy between 2010 and 2017. The claims related to the Healthy Headwaters Water Use Efficiency project, which helped Queensland's Murray-Darling Basin irrigation communities deal with climate change and reduced water availability. Under the program, irrigators were granted funds to undertake on-farm infrastructure projects to increase water use efficiency, such as improving water storage.
ABC News
16-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Award-winning cotton grower John Norman jailed over $8.7 million water fraud
Former Australian cotton grower of the year John Norman has been sentenced to a maximum of nine and a half years in prison over his role in one of Australia's most significant water frauds. After a complex police investigation, seven years of backroom legal wrangling, and an eventual guilty plea, Brisbane District Court Judge Bernard Porter described the case as a "wide-ranging fraud" that had "exploited" small family businesses. Between 2010 and 2016, John Norman and his former chief financial officer pressured contractors to alter invoices — or changed invoices themselves — to fraudulently claim millions of dollars from a government scheme. As part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the Queensland government's Healthy Headwaters program was designed to encourage farmers to invest in water efficiency measures. Funded by the Commonwealth, it allowed irrigators to apply for money to improve irrigation infrastructure on their properties in exchange for a portion of the water savings being transferred to the government for environmental use. The court heard Norman received almost $20 million through the scheme, including $8.7 million in fraudulent claims. Judge Porter said the fraud had brought the Healthy Headwaters scheme into disrepute and undermined faith in regulators. The case is understood to be among the most significant water frauds prosecuted in Australia.
