Statement – The Wilderness Society (Tasmania); Tasmanian National Parks Association, 12 August 2024

TWS and TNPA have commenced legal proceedings to wind up Wild Drake Pty Ltd

These proceedings are the next step in the legal process about the campaign to protect Halls Island in Lake Malbena in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area from the impacts of Wild Drake’s proposed helicopter-accessed tourism development. The TNPA’s reasons for opposing this proposal include the alienation of public land within a national park for the benefit of a private developer and the impact on the wild character of the area of both the development itself and the helicopter access. It is an example of the sort of inappropriate development encouraged by the state government’s privatisation agenda and enabled by the Expressions of Interest process.

The development application for this proposal was rejected by the Central Highlands Council in February 2019. This rejection was overturned by Wild Drake in the then Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal (RMPAT) in October 2019. The Wilderness Society (Tasmania), the TNPA, and two individuals (together, the Appellants), challenged RMPAT’s decision, eventually taking the matter to the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Tasmania which, in September 2021, set aside RMPAT’s decision to grant a permit for the proposal. On 15 December 2021, Wild Drake withdrew its appeal so the February 2019 refusal of the proposal by Central Highlands Council stands.

The final stage of many legal proceedings is the awarding of costs. In this case the Full Court of the Supreme Court, in September 2021, ordered the respondents to the Appeals (Wild Drake and the Director of National Parks and Wildlife) to pay the Appellants’ legal costs. Following a protracted dispute over the amount of the costs, an agreement was made in September 2023 which required full payment by 17 November 2023. The Director of National Parks and Wildlife paid his agreed amount, in full, by the due date, but Wild Drake made only a partial payment on 8 December 2023, leaving a debt of $19,500 outstanding.

The Appellants then sought legal advice on our options for recovering the debt of $19,500. We were not prepared to abandon any opportunity to recover the debt, so we instructed our lawyer to issue a statutory demand which required payment by 1 May 2024. A payment of $1,500 was made on 4 June 2024, accompanied by a promise to pay the balance of the debt ($18,000) in full by 17 July 2024. By 30 July 2024 no further payment or communication had been received from Wild Drake so we have commenced proceedings to wind up Wild Drake so that a liquidator can be appointed to recover our debt. The Court documents were served on Wild Drake Pty Ltd on 9 August 2024.

Additional background information can be found here.

Note that the proposal has been the subject of legal challenge under both Tasmanian and Commonwealth legislation. All challenges under Commonwealth legislation were undertaken by The Wilderness Society alone and are not the subject of this statement.