Fine for landing in park

A MILLIONAIRE cattle baron who flew his helicopter in Kakadu National Park landed himself in legal strife, but walked from court without a conviction.

Alan Norman Fisher, 44, pleaded guilty on Friday in Darwin Local Court to a Commonwealth offence of landing an aircraft inside a declared Commonwealth reserve.

Defence lawyer Peter Maley said Fisher, who owns Wombungi, Swim Creek and Mary River East Stations, dropped off passengers — including his terminally ill cousin — on a remote floodplain in the national park.

“His cousin who is terminally ill with cancer wanted to catch a big fish,” he said.

“He wanted to grant his dying cousin that wish.”

Mr Maley said there was no suggestion Fisher had caused any environmental damage, and all the fish had been caught and released.

“There’s no commercial aspect to this at all, he’s not running a fishing tour business,” he said.

Rangers in an airboat spotted four men fishing 3.5km inside the park, in a spot which is closed to visitors and inaccess- ible by road or track, Commonwealth prosecutor Juliet Hardy said.

Fisher had dropped them off one at a time in his twoseater Robinson R22 helicopter, taking off and landing repeatedly inside the park.

Ms Hardy said rogue helicopter pilots landing inside the park was “unfortunately a reasonably regular occurrence” and was serious enough for park authorities to press charges against Fisher.

Mr Maley said his client owned seven helicopters, ran more than 30,000 head of cattle, employed 30 people and paid “millions of dollars in tax each year”.

He said Fisher “really is a son of the Territory”, with three children himself and a family which was “well known in the rural area”.

Judge Therese said Austin knew he was landing inside the park, although the charge would have stuck even if he did not know he was landing inside an area where helicopters were banned.

“It would not be of any benefit to record a conviction for this, it wouldn’t be in the public interest,” she said.

She said it was important people obeyed the rules at Kakadu, and fined Fisher $800.