The former resources minister Ian Macdonald has insisted to a corruption inquiry that he had "total authority" to issue exploration licences without a tender, including to a company backed by former union boss and Labor Party figure John Maitland.

Mr Macdonald, giving evidence before the Independent Commission Against Corruption for the third time in two years on Wednesday, has also maintained that he and Mr Maitland were not friends of any kind, contradicting Labor colleagues from the same faction who had regarded them as "mates".

"I had total authority to deal with exploration licences without going to cabinet": Ian MacDonald. Credit:Janie Barrett

"We had a cordial relationship," Mr Macdonald said.

"I met him about 15 times in seven years . . . I never went out drinking with him . . . I have never met his children."