Shaun McElwaine SC withdraws as legal counsel for Lake Malbena proponent

Shaun McElwaine SC had represented Wild Drake - whose owner Daniel Hackett has been attempting to gain final approval for the venture - in the Supreme Court after the Wilderness Society Tasmania appealed the planning tribunal's decision to approve it.

The Supreme Court then sent it back to the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal, now known as the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, or TASCAT.

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It was listed for a directions hearing on Thursday, but that was delayed until December 17 after Mr McElwaine wrote to TASCAT to say he would no longer be representing Wild Drake and that alternative legal advice would be needed.

Mr Hackett could not comment on the matter.

In a majority judgment in September, Supreme Court justices found that RMPAT had made no findings on whether the proposal included "only" standing camps, and that this needed to be examined.

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The Lake Malbena legal battle is closing in on three years since Central Highlands Council rejected it, and has also been the subject of a separate Federal Court appeal.

The proposal involves the use of a helicopter to fly visitors from Derwent Bridge to a landing area on exposed rock near Lake Malbena in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park, where they would trek a short distance to the lake and reach Halls Island by boat. A standing camp would be used as accommodation.

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