Queen Elizabeth requested to make Plaza Hotel a micronation by James Chang

Rockhampton’s Plaza Hotel owner wants his property declared an independent state of Australia, or a micronation, by Queen Elizabeth II, after he was ordered to pay more than $200,000 in overdue rates.

A Rockhampton hotel owner wants his property declared an independent state of Australia, or a micronation, by Queen Elizabeth II.

James Chang, the director of Chang Holdings which has owned Rockhampton’s Plaza Hotel since 1996 told Rockhampton District Court, through an affidavit, that he was writing to the Queen to have her make his property an independent state of Australia, “or a micronation as all the other 35 micronations in Australia”.

This was done during proceedings on September 3 where Rockhampton Regional Council sought the court to order Mr Chang pay outstanding rates of $207,008.05 for four rateable periods (about $51,752.02 each period), as well as interest and legal fees.

A micronation is an entity which claims to be an independent state, but is not recognised legally by the world.

And it wouldn’t be the first micronation in Central Queensland as there was one established in 1993 called the “Principality of Marlborough”, about 200kms north of Rockhampton.

It was established by farmer George Muirhead who faced his properties being repossessed by the Commonwealth Bank.

Muirhead, his wife and 30 supporters were evicted by 120 offices from Queensland’s police force 11 days after the proclamation of independence.

Mr Chang stated in his affidavit if Judge Jeff Clarke ruled in favour of Rockhampton Regional Council, he would be “left with no choice” but to declare his property “an independent state of Queensland with the permission of our Queen or through the international court to protect the human rights of my family”.

Mr Chang claims he has had no income from the property in the past 7.5 years, with his hotel “abandoned” by the last tenant who also declared bankruptcy.

He also claimed he had been living off $100 per month for food, was not entitled to Centrelink assistance due to owning an asset – the hotel - and was forced to sell his family house in Brisbane in September 2019 in order to pay the “unfair” and “ridiculously high” council rates.

He repeatedly claimed in his affidavit council was charging him $142,000 per year in rates.

He also claimed council rates had increased 14 times since he purchased the hotel.

Mr Chang’s lawyer, Mr Agnew, said his client claimed the hotel had been abandoned since 2014 and newspaper articles had been tendered backing up that claim.

In his affidavit, Mr Chang stated “it has been made abundantly clear that the hotel has been closed for all that time except to accept Singapore Air Force bookings for less than two months and Beef Week bookings for seven to 10 days in 2015 under the request for help from Advance Rockhampton”.

Mr Chang claimed he had notified council multiple times the hotel was now used as a private residence for his family, however, the lawyer for council told the court Mr Chang had never submitted a Material Change of Use application with the council.

A Material Change of Use would result in the use of the land being re-categorised and, therefore, be in a different rate category (rates are worked out by land use and land value).

Mr Chang, who told The Morning Bulletin in 2019 he had a $1.6 billion redevelopment plan for the hotel, told the court he could not afford the redevelopment and it was a development company from China that was going to carry out the “super hotel” project.

In the affidavit, he stated: “a lot of my friends know that my father is a major shareholder of a bank in Taiwan, and my uncle is the chairman of the bank. If I want to, I can seek help from my father or uncle to give me money to pay for the council rates. But it is not right for me for my age at 58 to seek help from my father at age 84, because I don’t want to worry him too much about me and my family here, so I need to force myself and my family to live in poverty, all because the council refuses to reduce any council rates”.

Rockhampton Regional Council acting chief executive officer Ross Cheesman said while it was not appropriate for council to comment on particular cases that were involved in legal proceedings, council always endeavoured to work through these cases with the owners.

“Taking legal action is council’s last resort that unfortunately at times we have to undertake,” he said.

Mr Chang was ordered by the court to pay the outstanding rates debt plus interest and legal costs.

HOTEL HISTORY

In 1993 the hotel sold for $1.9 million and then for $1.5 million in 1988, before it was sold to current owners, Chang Holdings in 1996 for $3 million.

In February 2014, The Morning Bulletin reported the hotel was closed with "no vacancy" signs on the doors and silver chairs bobbing in the pool.

In April 2014, the Rockhampton Plaza Hotel International was temporarily closed so it could undergo a serious refurbishment program with plans to reopen around mid September to early October 2014.

The last review for the 3.5 star motel was in November 2015 where it was reported to be “very run-down”.

Chang Holdings shareholder and director James Chang told The Morning Bulletin in 2019 he had plans for a $1.6 billion, 38 story high-rise building which would include apartment hotels, a school, gymnasium, hotel management college, a five level (4,000 sqm each) shopping centre, a 1600 sqm rooftop restaurant and entertainment venues.

The Morning Bulletin reported Vision Hotels took over management of the hotel in December 2019 and job seekers were encouraged to apply for jobs for when it opened.

The hotel was planned to reopen in early March, following a $100,000 to $150,000 extensive refurbishment and repair process.

This partnership dissolved in March and Chang Holdings was reportedly looking for new lessees.