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…
Valerie Halliday bought an abalone licence in 1999 for $4.25 million expecting reliable retirement income. The licence generated strong earnings for years, but in early 2006 a herpes-like virus escaped from the Southern Ocean Mariculture farm off Port Fairy and decimated wild abalone stocks. As catches dwindled she struggled to meet a $24,000-a-month interest-only loan, sold her home and other assets, and became a lead witness in an $82 million class action against the Victorian government.
According to Mrs Halliday’s testimony, the licence was generating gross earnings of about $800,000 to $1 million a year and was putting roughly $300,000 before tax into her pocket annually. She also said she had rejected an $8 million offer a few years after buying the licence and had been told it might reach $10 million.
The article reports a herpes-like virus escaped in early 2006 from the Southern Ocean Mariculture farm off Port Fairy. The outbreak is blamed for wiping out wild abalone stocks along the coast from the Victorian–South Australian border to Cape Otway.
Abalone licence holders launched an $82 million class action claiming the Victorian government failed to control the spread of the disease that devastated wild abalone stocks. Mrs Halliday was the first witness called at the Supreme Court trial, which is ongoing.
The Victorian government issued special and exploratory permits meant to increase Mrs Halliday’s three-tonne quota, but those permits eventually ran out. Mrs Halliday said the permits probably yielded up to half a tonne more abalone in a year — useful but insufficient to restore previous earnings.
As catches fell after the virus outbreak, Mrs Halliday could no longer sustain $24,000-a-month interest-only loan repayments. In 2011 she was forced to sell her home of 35 years for $1.7 million and also sold antique furniture and her car. She has given evidence as part of the class action.
Court testimony in the article links the herpes-like virus to an escape from the Southern Ocean Mariculture farm off Port Fairy. The wild abalone decline reportedly affected waters from the Victorian–South Australian border to Cape Otway.
The case highlights investment risks tied to single-asset, licence-based businesses and environmental or operational events beyond an investor’s control. For people following the trial, outcomes may clarify government liability and compensation issues for affected licence holders, but the Supreme Court trial is still underway and no final judgment is reported in the article.
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