KEY POINTS:
BRISBANE - Former Kiwi rugby league star Jarrod McCracken will face court in December on criminal charges relating to the development of his multi-million dollar Whitsundays property.
Queensland's Environmental Protection Agency has charged McCracken and his company Crackers Corp with eight offences for alleged unauthorised clearing and earthworks on his 387ha property at Clarkes Cove in north Queensland.
Whitsunday Shire Council is also pursuing three charges over the alleged development.
Lawyers for the former New Zealand captain, who played for the Bulldogs, Parramatta Eels and the Wests Tigers in the NRL, his company and wife Michelle, appeared briefly for mention in Proserpine Magistrates Court yesterday and the case was adjourned until December 11.
It is alleged McCracken cleared rare bottle trees from the site without permission, damaged native vegetation on state coastal land and Dryander National Park, and caused sediment to run off into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
He also is accused of breaching Aboriginal heritage protection laws.
Earlier this year, the McCrackens reached an out-of-court agreement with the EPA and Whitsunday Shire Council to replant hundreds of trees cleared from the property for building purposes.
Under the agreement areas of cleared coastal rainforest must be revegetated with native woody plants within 19 months, and the replanting will be monitored by the council.
However, the EPA in August decided to pursue the matter further with criminal charges.
- AAP
