Federal Minister, MotoGP owner named in mystery park lands court case
Federal court documents reveal MotoGP’s mystery challenger is taking the park lands fight beyond SA borders.
The Federal Environment Minister and the international sporting body that owns MotoGP have been named in a court challenge from a mystery Queenslander trying to stop works on the Adelaide park lands.
New details have emerged in the application filed in the Federal Court of Australia, seeking to urgently stop works associated with Adelaide’s upcoming MotoGP.
The Federal Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt, the owner and commercial rights holder of the MotoGP Liberty Media Corporation, and the global governing MotoGP body Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) have been named as respondents alongside the state government in the MotoGP injunction.
An urgent interim injunction is a temporary, short-term court order granted quickly to freeze a situation – in this case, construction of the $96 million MotoGP track – until a proper hearing can take place.
Watt has been contacted for comment by InDaily.
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Attorney-General Kyam Maher previously said the state government was “aware of the application filed in Federal Court” and intends to defend the case when it comes to court.
“As proceedings are now before the court, the Government will refrain from commenting on the merits of the case while the application is being considered,” Maher said.
Court documents lodged by Queenslander Joshua Hogan and seen by InDaily claim works on the proposed street circuit were “without a valid statutory referral to, and formal approval by, the Federal Minister for the Environment breaches Section 67A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Act (EPBC Act)”.
When announcing the street upgrade plans for MotoGP, Premier Peter Malinauskas said the plans would be referred to the Federal Environment Minister for approval.
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Hogan has lodged an application for a permanent injunction to restrain the state government, Liberty Media and the FIM from commencing any physical site works, land clearing, road resurfacing and the removal of trees within the Adelaide Park Lands National Heritage boundary for the MotoGP street circuit layout.
The time, date and place for the hearing have not yet been set, according to court documents.
The injunction was lodged by mystery man Hogan on September 18 in the Federal Court of Australia’s Queensland registry.
The new details emerged just one day after SA public servant Edwin Kemp Atttill and Kaurna traditional owner Janette Milera lost their case against the state government in the Federal Court to stop works on the North Adelaide Golf Course development.
Both cases reference the same national environmental and heritage laws, known as the EPBC Act.
Kemp Attrill and Milera argued against certain sections of the Act, specifically looking at the impacts on threatened species like the grey-headed flying fox and Aboriginal connections to the possums and certain trees in the area that was due to be cleared in the project.
Documents seen in the latest court case do not include the same level of detail. It alleges that the MotoGP street circuit works are an unapproved “controlled action” under the existing laws.
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