Federal Court invalidates Lorella Springs tourism permit

Court sets aside permit

Justice Natalie Charlesworth declared the permit invalid after hearing twelve arguments from native title holders. The judge found the Pastoral Land Board exceeded its jurisdiction by approving a permit covering about 60,000 hectares. This approved area was far larger than what the owners originally applied for in their request. Justice Charlesworth also noted that the circumstances surrounding this approval are not at all clear to her.

Procedural fairness failed

Judges found that a full environmental impact assessment was never conducted for the whole region in question. The board did not meet its duty to ensure procedural fairness for native title holders throughout the proceedings. Owners Marie and Rhett Walker lodged an application in 2022 for farm tourism operations at their station. Their application stated that Aboriginal sites would be avoided from all tourism activity according to their plans.

Board must reassess

Following the directive from the judge, the board must reevaluate the application under legal standards, potentially allowing for a new permit later on. The station is located about 1,000 kilometres from Darwin and spans 400,000 hectares of outback cattle land. Since January 2023 the station has been closed to most tourists while only select guided tours were allowed. Northern Land Council representatives Burdal Riley Murrungun Wunubari and Mambali Walangara challenged the government decision in 2025.