$50,000 for top Wagyl barrister

AUSTRALIA’S former top law officer has been hired to defend Toodyay real estate agent Tony Maddox (left) against a charge of allegedly breaching Aboriginal heritage law.

Mr Maddox has engaged former Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter to fight a charge that he allegedly damaged an Aboriginal heritage site by building an unauthorised vehicle crossing over Boyagerring Brook on his Nunile property.

The State says the waterway is the home of the Wagyl, an Aboriginal spiritual belief.

Mr Porter’s fees for a three-day Perth trial next year are expected to cost up to $50,000.

Mr Maddox said the State had allowed him to resume pumping bore water into the creek to form a small artificial lake on his property.