Level of debts revealed

SUPREME Court documents allege a company owned by a prominent Liberal lobbyist and her husband owes $27,000 to a local business and has unpaid rates of $22,000.

As revealed in Saturday’s Bulletin, several companies linked to Simone Holzapfel and her husband Matthew Robinson are suffering financial difficulties, affecting a multimilliondollar housing development and leaving their directors scrambling to clear debts.

With Mr Robinson, Ms Holzapfel owns Horseshoe Properties, which ASIC records show is in external administration after a creditor took them to court over an unpaid debt.

Court documents for the case allege Horseshoe also has three previous court judgments between 2014 and 2017 for unpaid rates to Tweed Shire Council totalling $22,265.

The documents include a credit risk report describing the company’s financial status as “critical”, saying its chance of failure in the next 12 months was 71.81 per cent and that “trading eligibility must be considered”.

The documents allege Horseshoe Properties had failed to pay $27,652.31 to Nerang business Envirosphere after being ordered to pay that amount by Southport Magistrates Court on March 14.

However, Mr Robinson, 53, yesterday said their development, Huonbrook Estate at Terranora on the southern Tweed, was still on track and that a private financier had agreed to bail them out.

“We’re progressing very well and it’s probably going to settle ahead of time. I expect to be back on site within two weeks.”

Huonbrook Estate is being developed by another of Mr Robinson’s companies, Robinson Prospect, while Horseshoe Properties owns the land.

Mr Robinson said the trouble had started with a contractor who made a costly error, which he said he would pursue through the legal system.

Mr Robinson said he was confident the Envirosphere court action would be resolved without his company being forced into liquidation.

“Horseshoe is not doing anything wrong, it’s trying to fix the problems. Every creditor has been contacted, or at least acknowledged. It has progressed substantially.”

Envirosphere director Steven Towner declined to comment on the case.

Ms Holzapfel, 43, last week confirmed her PR and lobbying company Shac Communications also had “some creditors that have got bills that are being paid”, while another of her entities, Amalfi Invest, is subject to strike-off action by ASIC.

Amalfi Invest is the registered owner of the couple’s property at Gleneagle near Beaudesert.