| A lack of governance and accountability within the DFAT-Kokoda Initiative and PNG Kokoda Track Authority has resulted in a corrupted system of management for the Kokoda Trail which have been well documented. Dodgy operators without a moral compass are therefore easily able to make bogus claims without challenge; treat PNG commercial legal requirements with contempt; and avoid their taxation and personnel management obligations. A review of the internet archive and observations across the Trail over the past 20 years indicate that Wayne Wetherall is a leading exponent of bogus marketing practices that have seen his company emerge as one of the leading Kokoda tour operators. Wetherall’s sales and marketing skills are evidenced in the fact that he is the only Kokoda tour operator to have received endorsements from the Australian High Commission, the Kokoda Track Authority, and the DFAT Strategic Advisor to the Kokoda Initiative. Under the current corrupted system it’s not possible for prospective trekkers to conduct proper due diligence on the various Kokoda tour companies. The following blogs, which trace the transition of Wayne Wetherall from an unknown surburban salesman to a self-proclaimed ‘adventurer, explorer, historian and philanthropist‘, provide the basis of a case study for reform of the current dysfunctional system. The Kokoda Trail will never achieve its potential as a world-class pilgrimage tourism destination capable of providing a sustainable economic livelhood for traditional landowner communities until this happens. Until then the Latin phrase, Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) will prevail. |
Kokoda Spirit Review – Let the Buyer Beware!
Extract from a report by a former army lieutenant and decorated Vietnam Veteran who led two treks for Wayne Wetherall:
‘I led two dry season Track crossings for Wayne in 2009. The first, comprising a group of some six clients, went reasonably well. An overall assessment suggested to me that, prima facie, Wayne had his shit in order.‘
‘The second crossing for Wayne later that year, was however, an unmitigated disaster, and suggested to me that Wayne was flying by the seat of his pants, and that his organisation was a major accident waiting for a time and a place to happen. I forwarded a comprehensive assessment of the trek and his organisation to him and received in return only a brief acknowledgement of that report. Since that time, I’ve had essentially no contact with him.
‘My anecdotal-based overview of WW, gained inter alia, from a number of reputable sources whose opinion and judgement I would trust, and over the past seven years, is that he is a bullshit merchant of some standing, whose principal position in life seems to be based on a carefully planned programme of self-aggrandisement and self-promotion. Notwithstanding his clever self-marketing skills, his trekking “exploits” both on and off the Track appears to me to lack any real credibility, He seems somehow to survive on a predetermined network of manipulative exploitation of, at best, half-truths, something akin to a shonky second-hand car salesman!!’
Link to full article:
Extract of Evidence from Queensland Industrial Relations Commission re Wayne Wetherall of Kokoda Spirit
The dark side of Wayne Wetherall’s character was exposed after his long-term female manager lodged an appeal in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) when Covid struck and she found she had been shortchanged on her superannuation entitlements – during the course of the four-day hearing it was revealed he had:
• bullied and harassed his female staff;
• stalked vulnerable female trekkers;
• coerced one into having group sex with his mates;
• traded sexual favours with his female staffer in Port Moresby;
• fathered an illegitimate child in PNG;
• engaged in group sex with other men; and
• exploited his PNG guides and porters.
Clink on the link below for to read the full Extract of Evidence from the Queensland Industrial Relations Hearing:
