Outback Wrangler Matt Wright, Kaia lose chopper battle with Develop­ment Consent Authority over Virginia home

An Insta-famous croc-wrangling celebrity couple have lost the battle to keep flying helicopters over their Top End home.

Embattled Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright and wife had a matter before the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

A croc-wrestling celebrity couple has been grounded after a tribunal ordered the Wrights to stop using their helicopters like a family car.

Outback Wrangler Matt Wright and his wife Kaia have lost their eight-month long dispute with the Develop­ment Consent Authority over their chopper use at their Top End home.

It comes two years after their Virginia neighbours first complained about the constant whirr of choppers in-and-out of the semi-rural Top End suburb in 2021.

On Friday, Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal president Mark O’Reilly confirmed a DCA enforcement order ordering the Wrights to stop using their Virginia property as a landing strip.

Outback Wrangler Matt Wright and his wife Kaia have lost their eight-month long dispute with the Develop­ment Consent Authority over their chopper use at their Top End home.

Mr O’Reilly said the neighbour had alleged there was an increase in flights in 2021, and that Mr Wright was using the home as a landing base for his tourism business — which the Outback Wrangler denied.

Following their complaints the DCA issued an enforcement notice stating the Wrights had breached the Planning Act by using the home as an aircraft landing site without consent while zoned as a rural living area.

The DCA alleged the Wrights — by continuing to fly following legislative changes in 2019 — had contravened the Planning Act.

It ordered the Wrights to stop landing their choppers at their property, unless they were able to get a certificate of existing use or an exemption to the development permits.

However, Mr Wright argued he had “existing use” rights to use his choppers like a car, but denied it was a “passenger terminal or heliport hub”.

The DCA alleged the Wrights — by continuing to fly following legislative changes in 2019 — had contravened the Planning Act. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

“I have for many years utilised helicopters as a principal means of transport for myself, family and friends,” Mr Wright said.

“Not dissimilar to how people use motor vehicles, I will fly in and out of our home in the morning and back in the evening.”

The DCA asked the Wrights for evidence of their ‘existing rights’, requesting flight logbooks, fuel deliveries, timeline evidence, scaled plan details.

However, Mr O’Reilly said the Insta-famous couple’s only proof was a series of photos and videos with their choppers on the property from 2017.

Mr O’Reilly rejected that the DCA notice was unfairly punishing them retrospectively, with the breach notice in relation to their chopper use following the 2019 changes.

“It is always open to a legislature to make illegal something that was previously legal, “ he said.

Mr O’Reilly confirmed the enforcement notice from October 24, 2022.

Originally published as Outback Wrangler Matt Wright, Kaia lose chopper battle with Develop­ment Consent Authority over Virginia home