Neil Balnaves died falling from boat on day trip from mega-cruiser The World

Australian film and TV executive Neil Balnaves is believed to have died after he fell and hit his head on a boat day-tripping from The World luxury cruise liner, writes Annette Sharp.

Australian film and television executive Neil Balnaves is believed to have met his tragic death
after a tender boat he was travelling in while day-tripping from The World cruise ship to Tahiti started to capsize, prompting Balnaves to fall and hit his head fatally.

While Balnaves family is yet to make a formal statement about the respected businessman’s death last Monday and funeral, close sources said the matter is now the subject of an investigation being conducted by The World Resident Holdings Ltd and ROW Management, the Fort Lauderdale company and subsidiary listed as owners of The World, which markets itself as the largest private residential ship on the planet.

Philanthropist Neil Balnaves and his wife Diane at their Mosman home

Representatives for The World or ROW did not respond to The Saturday Telegraph’s request for comment on Friday, while the Balnaves family maintained its grief-stricken silence after rallying to Balnaves’ widow Diane in Paapete, the Tahitian capital, where the vessel remained moored yesterday.

Given the yacht’s owners dispensed with an early operating model whereby passengers could rent apartments temporarily, it’s understood 77-year-old Balnaves owned an apartment on the ship.

Boasting 165 decadent on-board residences, The World operates like a luxury condominium whose diverse and wealthy owners circumnavigate the world every two or three years, casting votes to determine to which port they will next travel in their search for adventure.

The World is a floating home for some of the richest people on the planet. Picture: Instagram

Last year a penthouse apartment on the yacht — whose luxury attractions include six restaurants, a helipad, golf facilities with putting greens, a state-of-the-art golf simulator and resident pro, the only full-size regulation tennis court at sea, two swimming pools, a spa, a fitness centre, library, cinema, hobby and games rooms — was listed for sale with a $20 million asking price.

Instead of rates, residents, said to include Sydney’s own Ros Packer and Rothschild Australia’s Trevor Rowe and Gina Rinehart, pay an annual maintenance fee of up to $2 million.

With 150-200 passengers, many elderly, and some 280 crew on-board, passenger safety is of paramount importance on the ship. Newly appointed CEO Thomas Wolber reinforced this point in October.

“The safety and security of the ship and all who sail on her are paramount. These are values and perspectives I greatly admire,” Wolber said before taking up his role last month.

Balnaves’ star rose in the 1970s after the former PR man and advertising creative teamed with publisher, philanthropist and marketing genius Paul Weldon at Weldon’s Paul Hamlyn Group. In the 1970s the company took control of animation production house Hanna Barbera Australia, and 30-year-old Balnaves was appointed MD.

Later that decade he backed the construction of theme park Australia’s Wonderland, and in 1979 he moved into videotape production in a 50/50 venture with Hollywood studios Paramount Pictures and MCA Universal, called CIC-Rigby.

Balnaves co-founded Southern Star, which produced programs including Blue Heelers.

After that Balnaves co-founded Southern Star, creator of uniquely Aussie dramas Blue Heelers and Police Rescue.

After cashing out of Southern Star, he moved into philanthropy, supporting Sydney’s Ensemble and Belvoir St theatres, the Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery of South Australia, NIDA, the Adelaide Festival, and Bangarra Dance Theatre, among others, and was said to have been gutted, when four people died at Dreamworld in 2016, while he was chair of the presiding Ardent Leisure Group.

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]

Originally published as Neil Balnaves died falling from boat on day trip from mega-cruiser The World