Reynolds’ fight to keep Darwin rock centre open lands in court

Ms Reynolds offered to bring ‘at least 10,000 witnesses’ to court but Mr Woodcock said ‘I don’t think that would help me’.

The Rock director Carolyn Reynolds argued the Business Tenancies Act did not apply to the rock climbing centre as it was a non-profit organisation.

THE City of Darwin has taken the director of indoor rock climbing centre The Rock to court in a bid to boot her out of the premises she has occupied since 2001.

The council gave Carolyn Reynolds her marching orders earlier this year but the gym owner is fighting the move in the Local Court, arguing the relevant legislation does not apply.

In a tortuous hearing before judge Alan Woodcock on Tuesday, Ms Reynolds argued the Business Tenancies Act did not apply to The Rock as it was a non-profit organisation and her 25-year-lease was signed nine years before the act came into force.

Ms Reynolds initially asked for the matter to be adjourned so she could take legal advice on the council’s submissions but was refused by Mr Woodcock.

But she continued to push for an adjournment and on the first of several occasions during the hearing, became highly emotional when detailing her health concerns in support of the application.

She said she had been hospitalised after being struck by lightning before her “head got kicked in” at her Lake Bennett Resort property in 2017 — which then became the subject of a dispute over her use of lake water in the business’s kitchen.

“This year I have also gone through a really long, six-day trial with respect to the corruption, bullying and continuous abuse that I have received at the hands of the Environmental Health Department,” she said.

Ms Reynolds claimed she was again being bullied by the City of Darwin, which had a personal vendetta against her.

“If it wasn’t me this case wouldn’t have been here, your honour,” she said.

Ms Reynolds — who was the Country Liberal Party candidate in the seat of Goyder at the 2016 election — argued her treatment related to “persecution” by the NT Labor Government but Mr Woodcock said “politics have no role to play here”.

“If you’re a brave woman who wants to help children, God help you … all I want to do is help the kids, I have always said that and I always will,” she said.

“It’s not about a lease, it’s about adults behaving without compassion without consideration without care … because they’ve got their own personal motivations to go and build another flipping skyscraper.”

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But the council’s lawyer, Sarah Pringle, argued the act did apply to The Rock as it was both a retail shop lease and a business lease, regardless of whether it turned a profit or not.

“It is clearly a retail shop lease in that there is an agreement between the City of Darwin and Ms Reynolds to operate a rock climbing facility,” she said.

After hearing some submissions on the Business Tenancies Act, Mr Woodcock eventually decided to adjourn the hearing until next week so Ms Reynolds could seek legal advice.

Ms Reynolds offered to bring “at least 10,000 witnesses” to court but Mr Woodcock said “I don’t think that would help me”.