Kawarau Jet Services fought hard to prevent a competitor breaking its monopoly on tourist operations down the
Over the last twenty years, jet boat operations on the Kawarau have been consolidated. The High Court was told that Kawarau Jet Services has spent over three million dollars to buy out competitors. The company runs eight boats on the river, and has approval to operate up to 19 boats.
In 2008, Queenstown Lakes District Council granted to newcomer, Frontier Adventure Tours, a consent to run four commercial sightseeing tours per day on the river. This consent proved to be unlawful. By an oversight, the Council did not send details of the application to Kawarau Jet who was entitled to be told as an “affected person”.
Jet boat operations on Queenstown rivers can be dangerous; three people were killed in 2008.
On hearing of the new rival, Kawarau Jet moved swiftly. It contacted Maritime New Zealand to have Frontier’s consent suspended and asked it to assess safety issues potentially arising with multiple operators on the river. Maritime
The High Court was then asked to rule whether the otherwise unlawful consent granted to Frontier should be validated, or should
Kawarau Jet argued that its operations were seriously compromised by having Frontier on the river. It had to reduce the frequency of its trips to minimise the likelihood of collisions and it was unable to exercise the full number of trips allowed by its own consents.
Frontier argued that requiring the Council to rehear its application would close down Frontier’s operations despite Maritime New Zealand having approved the safety protocols.
The High Court ordered that the Council rehear the application. There were serious safety issues. There was evidence that Frontier had specifically told the Council that prior written approval from Kawarua Jet was not required. And Frontier had decided to push on and purchase a boat after it had been warned that Kawarau Jet would be taking legal action.
Kawarau Jet Services v.
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