PNG National Court Judgement: Adventure Kokoda Vs Minister for Environment Conservation & Climate Change, and the Kokoda Track Authority

KEY POINTS:

In her judgement handed down on 14 December 2023, Justice Susan Purdon-Sully found the decision of the Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change, the Hon Minister Simon Kilepa MP, to cancel our Adventure Kokoda tour operator’s license was unlawful and his decision should be quashed.
Her Honour also declared the Kokoda Initiative Committee (KIC) meeting convened on 21 April 2023 was not free from bias and conflicts of interest given the presence of the DFAT Strategic Management Advisor for the Kokoda Initiative and Secretary to the KIC, Mr. Mark Nizette MBE along with Oro Governor Gary Juffa MP.
Mark Nizette MBE, the DFAT Strategic Management Advisor for Kokoda, failed to declare a conflict of interest over his current defamation litigation against Charlie Lynn. The court also noted he had neglected to sign the Minutes of the meeting included in the affidavit submitted by the Acting CEO of the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA), Mr. Julius Wargirai, which led to the cancellation of our Adventure Kokoda licence.
Governor Juffa MP, who is closely associated with Mark Nizette MBE through DFAT funded aid projects in Oro Province, had threatened violence against our charter airline if they flew Adventure Kokoda groups into Kokoda at the start of the Anzac trekking period.
Justice Purdon-Sully also found that the decision to cancel our license was a breach of the principles of natural justice as well as a serious breach of principles that find their expression in the PNG Constitution.
Her Honour directed the Acting CEO and the Kokoda Track Authority to ‘take all steps necessary to restore the Adventure Kokoda Commercial Tour Operator’s Licence.’
Costs were awarded to Adventure Kokoda