Court hears of abalone disaster's personal cost
Instead she has had to sell her home, her antique furniture and car after a herpes-like virus decimated a third of Australia's wild abalone industry.
Mrs Halliday, 82, was the first witness called in the $82 million class action by abalone licence holders against the Victorian government. She had bought an abalone licence in 1999 for $4.25 million as a seemingly sound investment.
"I was working probably 12, 15 hours a day," she told a Supreme Court trial this week. "We were open to 7am . . . in one of the hotels, the longest licensing hours in Australia." The need to quit the hotel business became more pressing after her son, Gregory, was killed.
Mrs Halliday employed a diver, who in turn paid a deckhand, who caught the abalone off Victoria's south-west coast, while she enjoyed her retirement in Taroona, south of Hobart.
Three years after Mrs Halliday bought the licence she received an $8 million offer from Melbourne Shipbrokers to buy it, which she rejected. "The word was it would reach $10 million," she said.
The licence was generating gross earnings of about $800,000 to $1 million a year, while putting $300,000 before tax annually into Mrs Halliday's purse.
But in early 2006, the herpes-like virus escaped from the Southern Ocean Mariculture farm, off Port Fairy.
The class action alleges that the government failed to control the spread of the disease, which has wiped out wild abalone stocks from the Victorian-South Australian border to Cape Otway. As the catch dwindled, so did Mrs Halliday's capacity to pay her $24,000-a-month interest-only loan repayments.
In 2011, she was forced to sell her home of 35 years for $1.7 million.
The Victorian government gave her special and exploratory permits to increase her licence's three-tonne quota, but they had run out.
Defence counsel Michael Wheelahan, SC, asked Mrs Halliday if it was fair to say those permits had been of no real value to her.
"It probably gave us up to half a tonne more fish in the year, which was not to be sneezed at," she said.
The trial continues.
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
The class action, valued at $82 million, is brought by abalone licence holders alleging the Victorian government failed to control the spread of a herpes-like virus that decimated wild abalone stocks after it escaped from a Southern Ocean Mariculture farm. The matter is being heard in a Supreme Court trial.
Valerie Halliday, 82, is a former abalone licence holder who bought her licence in 1999 for $4.25 million. She was the first witness called in the trial, describing how the industry collapse forced her to sell her home, antique furniture and car after catches dwindled following the outbreak.
According to the article, a herpes-like virus escaped from the Southern Ocean Mariculture farm off Port Fairy in early 2006. The virus is alleged to have wiped out wild abalone from the Victorian–South Australian border to Cape Otway.
The article reports that Mrs Halliday’s licence was generating gross earnings of about $800,000 to $1,000,000 a year and was putting roughly $300,000 before tax annually into her pocket prior to the industry collapse.
The Victorian government provided special and exploratory permits intended to increase the licence’s standard three-tonne quota, but in Mrs Halliday’s case those permits eventually ran out and only added up to around half a tonne extra a year.
The article states the disease wiped out wild abalone stocks across a range from the Victorian–South Australian border to Cape Otway along Victoria’s south-west coast.
Mrs Halliday said that as catches dwindled she struggled to meet $24,000-a-month interest-only loan repayments. By 2011 she was forced to sell her home of 35 years for $1.7 million and also sold antique furniture and her car to cover losses.
The article reports that the Supreme Court trial is ongoing, with Mrs Halliday having been the first witness called. The trial continues and is examining the claims against the Victorian government.
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