No end in sight for Marree Man investigation

NINE months after it started investigating whether two pub owners broke the law in restoring an outback icon, the Environment Department is yet to decide if it will lay charges.

The “rejuvenated” Marree Man, as seen on 12 April this year.

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THE Environment Department is still investigating two pub owners who rejuvenated an Outback icon, nine months after it started looking into a complaint.

The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources refused to comment on why the investigation into the restoration of the Marree Man was taking so long, stating only that it was “ongoing”.

Opposition environment spokesman David Speirs savaged the department’s “skewed priorities” for continuing to pursue the long-running inquiry, after The Advertiser revealed yesterday it had spent $80,000 on indoor pot plants.

“Whether it’s spending $80,000 on pot plants or racking up expensive legal bills, these examples show a department that has lost sight of its purpose,” Mr Speirs said.

“While we want people to care for native vegetation, this costly investigation process has taken months to complete and DEWNR’s limited resources would be better spent investing in our national parks or employing more rangers.

“The number of park rangers is at historic lows, yet the department’s primary focus has been taking a big stick approach to tourism operators.

“ The department should be partnering with land owners to improve our environment rather than spending thousands of tax payers’ dollars on a witch hunt.”

The original Marree man.

Environment Minister Ian Hunter said the department was simply doing its job by investigating a complaint and accused the Opposition of deflecting from its internal problems.

“Is Mr Speirs really suggesting we should give a minister discretion to choose which law to uphold and which law to ignore?” Mr Hunter said.

Tourist flights to Marree were reduced from 2010, when the famous 4.5km geoglyph in the form of an Aboriginal warrior became almost impossible to spot from the air. As of last year, the image was no longer visible on Google Maps.

It prompted two pub owners — the Marree Hotel’s Phil Turner and William Creek Hotel’s Trevor Wright — to hire a grader operator to restore the image.

Mr Turner told The Advertiser last year the work was necessary to kickstart the area’s flagging tourism industry.

Work to repair the geoglyph, which was designed by an unknown artist and first spotted by a bush pilot in 1998, was completed over five days in August last year.

Both publicans refused to comment while the investigation was ongoing, but have stressed the rejuvenation was only conducted after receiving permission from the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation, the area’s Native Title holders.

The Advertiser revealed DEWNR was investigating the pub owners in December 2016 after it demanded information about stories written about the return of the Marree Man last September.

It has since interviewed four journalists and photographers, as well as serving Mr Wright and Mr Turner with warrants demanding copies of all emails and correspondence about their plan.

Entrepreneur Dick Smith, who has donated money to build an airstrip at Marree, said the restoration of the famous geoglyph was a “minor issue” and not worth investigating.

“It’s a nothing. They shouldn’t be wasting their money on this,” he said.

“They should be concentrating their resources on real environmental concerns. All the pub owners were doing is reconditioning the real Marree Man, to say they were damaging native vegetation is ridiculous.”