Two couples are suing Matt Wright for negligence and breaching consumer laws following an airboat crash they say left them "terrified" after being "marooned in crocodile-infested waters" in 2023.
The case is due to return to the Federal Court on October 2.
In documents filed with the Federal Court, the families claim the 2023 crash in Bynoe Harbour, west of Darwin, left another passenger with a head injury that gave "the appearance of her face falling off her head".
In September of that year, the document alleges another airboat operated by one of Mr Wright's businesses crashed, injuring a 63-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man who went to hospital for treatment.
4 sentences from our version of the report,
chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below.
How
Summarized version
The families are suing Mr Wright, his wife Kaia Wright and their company, Top End Safari Camp, for negligence.
Headline check
The one thing this headline claims is in the report.
Figures, names and quoted words in the headline, looked for in the report itself — not in the summary above. One claim in this headline could be checked, so this is a narrow pass and not a thorough one. How this is checked
The article, shortened and in plain language
Two couples are suing Matt Wright for negligence and breaching consumer laws following an airboat crash they say left them "terrified" after being "marooned in crocodile-infested waters" in 2023.
Mr Wright, his wife Kaia Wright and the company Top End Safari Camp have denied the allegations as "inflammatory", "unproven" and "not relevant to these proceedings".
The case is due to return to the Federal Court on October 2.
Court documents have outlined celebrity croc wrangler Matt Wright's long history of alleged safety breaches in the lead-up to an airboat crash that left two young families "terrified" after being "marooned in crocodile-infested waters".
In documents filed with the Federal Court, the families claim the 2023 crash in Bynoe Harbour, west of Darwin, left another passenger with a head injury that gave "the appearance of her face falling off her head".
The lawsuit filed by NSW couple Ryan and Philippa Payne and Queenslanders Scott and Bianca McFarlane, on behalf of themselves and each couple's two children, alleges the group suffered physical and psychological injuries as a result of the crash.
The statement of claim cites earlier safety breaches the couples say resulted from the Wrights' previous business operations, including the death of Netflix star Chris "Willow" Wilson after one of Mr Wright's helicopters crashed in Arnhem Land in 2022, rendering pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.
In September of that year, the document alleges another airboat operated by one of Mr Wright's businesses crashed, injuring a 63-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man who went to hospital for treatment.
Shortened to 1 minute
of reading, this version reads 3 on the Niral Score.
You are reading our version, not theirs.
This is ABC News's report shortened to its most important sentences, in plainer words, with
verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives
that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations
are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure
this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.
How this outlet filed it, and how we rewrote it
No other newsroom we read has filed on this event, so there is nothing to compare it with yet.
Readers can ask a question about this story here.
Questions and answers are for subscribers.
Sign in
to read them.
Comments are read before they appear where anything in them needs a person to look.
Nothing posted here is ever deleted; a comment taken down keeps its text and the reason,
so the decision can be looked at again. How this works