Legal stoush between developers Michael Malouf, Heidi Middleton and Ian Cameron ends in fiery $16.2m Noosa auction

The Supreme Court fight between two prominent Queensland families fighting over a pristine block of waterfront land at Noosa has come to end in a heated auction with 41 bids.

Sass & Bide co-founder Heidi Middleton has been locked in a battle to acquire prime Noosa oceanfront land. Photo: Supplied

A Supreme Court battle between two prominent Queensland families over a pristine block of waterfront land at Noosa has come to an end in a heated $16.2m auction.

Developer Michael Malouf and his fashion designer wife, Sass & Bide co-founder Heidi Middleton, and the family of former Queensland federal politician Ian Cameron were among five bidders looking to secure the 40.5ha block at Noosa North Shore with almost half a kilometre of direct beach frontage.

The land at 337 Teewah Beach Rd, Noosa North Shore.

In a spirited 30-minute auction at real estate agency Ray White’s Brisbane headquarters, 41 bids were made.

Statutory trustees Glenn O’Kearney of GT Advisory & Consulting and Tim Elliott of Bell Legal were charged with selling the property, after 50 per cent owners Mr Malouf and Ms Middleton took the Cameron family, who owned the remaining portion, to court in order to trigger the sale and pick up all of the plot.

Tensions were high. The Cameron family had owned the property for 45 years and they had no intention of letting it go without a fight. But the Malouf-Middletons had their own plan, revealing in the court action that they hoped to build a family home.

Mr Cameron’s son, Will Cameron, opened the bidding at $4m, with seven subsequent bids from others taking the price to $7m at which point the auction was paused. Neither Mr Malouf nor Ms Middleton attended, and at this early stage in the proceedings it was unclear which of the three proxy bidders on the phone was theirs.

Will Cameron and his father, former politician Ian Cameron, mid-auction. Picture: Mackenzie Scott

But after the break, and when it was announced the land was on the market, there was no doubt who it was.

The Camerons reignited the auction with an $8m bid, and met every successive offer with a quick-fire counter.

Within minutes, the other bidders fell away. Just the two original owners remained and the packed room could feel the animosity ­rising.

Cameron: “$15.65m.”

Malouf-Middleton: “$15.9m.”

Cameron: “$16m.”

Malouf-Middleton: “$16.2m.”

It was at this moment everyone realised the auction might be nearing its end. The younger Cameron stood and asked: “Can I make a call?”

But Ray White’s Queensland chief auctioneer, Gavin Croft, was not pleased. “We’ve already had a break,” Mr Croft said, but allowed for a 30-second reprieve. Once Mr Cameron Jr returned, the auctioneer asked if that was it.

He begrudgingly replied: “Unfortunately, yes.”

Developer Michael Malouf.

Mr Cameron later told The Weekend Australian he was hoping to call his wife for support. He’d been up until 2am on the family farm on Queensland’s Darling Downs and they had reached their limit after borrowing ­additional funds and scrimping in the hope of retaining the family plot. The gavel fell at $16.2m, with the Malouf-Middletons holding the winning bid. Mr Cameron walked over to the proxy and said down the phone: “You’re a grub.”

“The man with the deepest pockets wins,” he added later.

The Friday morning auction was the culmination of months of legal battles between the tenants in common.

A bumper wheat crop in 1979 allowed Mr Cameron – who held the safest Nationals seat in Australia, Maranoa, through the 1980s – to purchase the block of land with three other prominent families from Brisbane.

For years, the former dairy farm and sand mine were shared between the tenants in common as a holiday destination, with tents pitched along the 466m beachfront.

Then in 2022, Mr Malouf ­entered the fray. The developer behind Brisbane’s award-winning Calile Hotel bought the stakes of the other three families on the block’s title for $4.2m.

He initially entered negotiations to purchase the final portion with Jill Cameron, Mr Cameron’s ex-wife and the owner on the title, but she backed off at the eleventh hour. The Camerons say they were blindsided when, soon after, Mr Malouf used a Queensland law to trigger the sale within the state’s Supreme Court, which was approved by judge Tom Sullivan in January.

Mr Cameron Snr said the was the situation had played out was unfortunate, and that the developer’s decision not to appear was “gutless”.

“He’s not the most pleasant person to deal with, I assure you,” Mr Cameron said. “He has stuck the spear into us well and truly.

“I haven’t even met his partner (Ms Middleton) … so I don’t know how the law can allow him to come along and sell the property from underneath us, who have been there for 40 years.”

His son added: “It’s an as-of-right process and, in my humble belief, the law needs to be changed.”

The property was marketed by RWC Special Projects agents Mark Creevey and Tony Williams, in conjunction with RWC Noosa and Sunshine Coast agents Paul Butler and Paul Forrest.

Mr Williams said interest was received from interstate and ­overseas.

Mr Malouf declined to comment following the auction.