Property developer Dean Lukin Jr has announced he will sell off the family’s landholdings in Port Lincoln

Property developer Dean Lukin Jr has made a business decision about the family’s ties to Port Lincoln with over 100ha of land set to be affected.

Dean Lukin and Dean Lukin Jr will now develop properties on the east coast of Australia .

Property developer Dean Lukin Jr, the son of Olympic gold medal weightlifter Dean Lukin, has announced he will sell off all the Lukin family’s landholdings in Port Lincoln in frustration over disputes with successive governments.

Mr Lukin Jr says state governments of both stripes have taken him and the town for granted, frustrating his attempts to develop the town.

It means the end of an era for the Lukin family on the Eyre Peninsula, which started in the 1960s and included a tuna empire which the family has already sold.

The land sale, estimated to be worth about $20m, includes more than 500 residential allotments on 32ha of land, 90ha of future deferred urban land, industrial zoned land, a jetty and water licence, and about 7km of coastline ending before Tulka.

The sale will put to rest the development of a Greg Norman-designed golf course with surrounding residential development in Port Lincoln.

It’s something Mr Lukin Jr has been trying to develop since 2008, taking over from his father, who started the development in 2003.

Dean Lukin Junior with Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has announced he will sell off all of the Lukin family’s landholdings in Port Lincoln which is estimated to be worth about $20m.

Mr Lukin Jr said it was “a really big decision” to make.

But it was one that was made taking into account the advice of his grandmother – Ann Lukin who passed away in June – and his father Dean.

“My father, he messaged me and said, ‘we’ve spent 24 years, let’s just get out of there’,” Mr Lukin Jr said.

“And I’ve only once gone against what my grandmother and father told me, and that was one of the worst business decisions I ever made.”

Mr Lukin Jr said there was some bitterness around his decision as he criticised both the former Marshall Liberal and current Malinauskas Labor governments for failing to invest in Port Lincoln, claiming the safe Liberal territory meant it was ignored by both sides of politics.

“We’re just getting no assistance and it’s just beyond frustration,” he said. “In the state elections, they (both Liberal and Labor) pile all this money into a marginal seat, but in Port Lincoln, we get nothing.

“I feel like we’re (Port Lincoln locals and council) being so proactive, and the government just takes us for granted.”

Mr Lukin Jr said a dispute with SA Water was also “a major contributor” in his decision.

Mr Lukin Jr sold SA Water the site of the future Eyre Peninsula desalination plant at Billy Lights Point, on the outskirts of Port Lincoln.

At the time, he said he had been left with the impression the land would be developed as an industrial zone, with infrastructure to support the desalination plant such as a heavy vehicle bypass.

However, this was not included in plans by SA Water for the $313m plant, with the dispute centred around a new link road.

“I’m not going to sit around and be bullied by some government departments,” said Mr Lukin Jr, who will now develop properties on the east coast of Australia with his father.