Gina Rinehart takes fight for helipad at Hancock’s Perth HQ to tribunal

Gina Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting has taken its fight to build a helipad atop its West Perth headquarters to the State Administrative Tribunal after it was knocked back by the local council.

The City of Perth grounded plans for the helipad at the Ord Street building in December, despite two councillors backing the idea of a helicopter landing in the city precinct, and the lord mayor describing Rinehart as an “amazing Australian”.

Opposition to the helipad stemmed from concerns over noise, whether it was conducive with the area’s existing planning scheme, and whether allowing the CBD’s first private-use helipad would set an undesirable precedent.

The area, in West Perth, is an office and residential precinct, with the City of Perth flagging nearby sites could accommodate more residents in the future.

But Ord Street Holdings counsel Grant Donaldson, KC, in his opening statement in SAT on Monday, argued the helipad would only be used in “daylight hours” between midday and 7pm up to 12 times a year for “occasional corporate transport”.

“That’s 144 minutes per annum, that equates to the sound of an electric kettle boiling for six minutes, once every fortnight, between the hours of noon and 7pm,” he said.

“This case boils down to what negative impact is this use going to have on the objects of the current or new scheme?”

The mining giant has previously likened Perth to Tokyo and New York as a “global city”, saying “rooftop helipads are commonplace across the world’s leading cities, and our proposal would elevate Perth’s status”.

But City of Perth barrister Tim Houweling said the fundamental issue in the case was noise.

Neighbouring buildings have also objected to the helipad.

The Child and Adolescent Health Service made a submission to the City of Perth stating that sudden, intermittent helicopter noise could interrupt testing of children with conditions including autism, sensory issues, ADHD or anxiety.

The submission also raised concerns that its roof is old and made of asbestos, and helicopter downwash could disrupt the asbestos dust that has settled.

After the council initially refused the helipad application, Hancock Prospecting lodged a revised development plan outlining a new flight path, in a bid to get the request over the line.

Previous plans had the helicopter approaching from the east or west of the eye-popping five-storey headquarters, in a route that would have seen it come down over the inner-city suburb of Subiaco or a mix of residential and office buildings in West Perth.

Instead, the new flight path has the eight-seat Bell 429 helicopter approaching the building from the south-west, tracking Thomas Street on the outer fringe of Perth’s CBD botanic garden Kings Park, before turning and descending once it reaches Ord Street.

A Hancock Prospecting spokesperson said the company’s original application was “developed with expert input and independent technical analysis which confirmed the helipad and flight path can operate safely and appropriately”.

“However, as part of our extensive good faith efforts to reach agreement with the City of Perth, we have proposed an amended flight path and further reduced the proposed operating timeframes,” they said.

SAT judge Henry Jackson is presiding over the appeal, and will make a ruling on the helipad at the conclusion of the two-day trial which will hear from acoustic and planning experts.

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