Kakadu pig hunters to appeal $20,000 fines

A group of pig hunters who were slapped with fines totalling almost $20,000 for hunting in Kakadu National Park has vowed to appeal their sentence, saying they had permission from a traditional owner of the area.

Five people including Shane Dalton (right) and Peter Robertson faced Darwin Local Court for illegally hunting pigs in Kakadu National Park.

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A GROUP of pig hunters who were slapped with fines totalling almost $20,000 for hunting in Kakadu National Park has vowed to appeal their sentence, saying they had permission from a traditional owner of the area.

The five people – Shane Dalton, Corey Dalton, Kylie Hendry, Peter Robertson and Daniel Berryman – all appeared in Darwin Local Court on Monday where they were found guilty of illegally hunting, camping, driving off-road and bringing dogs into the park over several days in September 2018.

The group’s lawyer Thelma Gray told the court that two of her clients – Shane and Corey Dalton – were related by marriage to a traditional owner, who has since passed away, of parts of the park and had been granted permission by another traditional owner to hunt there.

However, Judge Greg Cavanagh ruled that they were still acting illegally under Commonwealth Legislation in place to protect the park, as permission to hunt can only be granted to indigenous Australians.

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“The fact of the matter is she (the traditional owner) can’t give permission for non-indigenous people to go hunting in there,” Judge Cavanagh told the court.

Each of the hunters were convicted and ordered to pay fines of between $2,000 and $4,000 each, as well as around $2,000 each in levies to Parks Australia.

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Shane Dalton told NT News after the hearing that the group planned to appeal the sentence.

“This is bulls****,” he said. “We’re going to the Supreme Court because this is wrong.

“This is the land of the Aborigines, not the land of the NT Government.”

Mr Dalton said he had been hunting in Kakadu for decades without incident, and had notified the park rangers.

“Each time we go hunting we let them know,” he said.

“There’s been no qualms, no nothing before this.”