The National Court has granted leave to Adventure Kokoda PNG to apply for a judicial review of the revocation of its commercial tour operator’s licence for Kokoda.
The decision was made on June 8th and will return to court on July 7th for further directions.
This case follows the decision by the Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change, Simon Kilepa, to cancel Adventure Kokoda’s commercial tour operator’s licence on April 24th, 2023.
Kilepa is the first defendant, the second defendant is acting chief executive officer of Kokoda Track Local-Level Government Special Purposes Authority, Julius Wargirai, and the third defendant is the Kokoda Track Local-Level Government Special Purposes Authority.
Owner of Adventure Kokoda, Charlie Lynn, welcomed the decision, saying: “The court agreed that we have an arguable case to answer for alleged irregularities surrounding the revocation of tour operator’s licence.
“We have instructed our solicitors to proceed with the application.
“This is the first interruption we have had to our treks since we helped establish Kokoda tourism with the former Minister for Inter-Government Relations, the late Sir Peter Barter, in 2004.
“We now welcome the opportunity to express our concerns at the judicial inquiry into the matter as soon as it is scheduled.”