Reynolds vows to keep up fight for Rock Centre ‘if it kills me’

An emotional Ms Reynolds claimed to be suffering ‘persecution’ by the Labor Party and was repeatedly reminded to stay on topic.

Former Country Liberal Party candidate Carolyn Reynolds, pictured here after being turned away when she tried to deliver cheesecakes to the NT Government on the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence.

ROCK Centre director Carolyn Reynolds has vowed to keep up the fight to hold on to her rock climbing gym “if it kills me” while the City of Darwin continues its court bid to wrestle it from her.

The council last month lodged an application with the Darwin Local Court to force Ms Reynolds to hand over the Doctors Gully property following a dispute over the lease and the gym owner has been fighting the move ever since.

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Ms Reynolds had argued the 2003 Business Tenancies Act did not apply to her 1994 lease but admitted in court on Thursday the section the council relied on to evict her “appears to apply”.

“It is possible that part 13 applies but again, this is an extremely poor piece of legislation,” she said.

“This case should be dismissed in its entirety because the lease is valid.”

But while judge Alan Woodcock said he accepted Ms Reynolds’ contention that other parts of the act did not apply to her lease he ruled the relevant section did and set the matter down for a substantive hearing next month.

“Clearly this is a business lease by its nature, it is made for the purpose of the lessee conducting business on the premises and as such the act does apply as regards part 13 only,” he said.

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During the hearing an emotional Ms Reynolds again claimed she was suffering the “persecution of me as a woman” by the Labor Party and had to be repeatedly reminded to stay on topic.

The outburst prompted Mr Woodcock to ask Ms Reynolds if she intended to continue to contest the matter after “seeing how distressed you are” but Ms Reynolds vowed to fight on.

“If this kills me so be it, it is the most important site in Darwin for the Larrakia people and I am the custodian for one of the sites,” she replied.

“There’s four other (World War II oil) tanks on the Esplanade, your honour, why do they want this one?”

Ms Reynolds said the Rock Centre was “one of the most iconic gyms in the world” and the facility was in the process of preparing for the 2020 Olympics with a space already set aside for the “trophy”.

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The matter will return to court on November 19 when Ms Reynolds said she plans to call Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis and Member for Casuarina Lauren Moss to give evidence.

In the meantime, Ms Reynolds said she would set up a “fighting fund” via Go Fund Me but had been reluctant to upset “a city that is already on its knees” by publicising the dispute.

The council’s lawyer, Sarah Pringle, was not required to take her feet after Mr Woodcock indicated he had accepted her written submissions.