Tasmania's Full Court threw out a $23.4 million stamp duty demand that had loomed over the Woolnorth dairy estate since 2021. The ruling, issued Wednesday, dismissed the State Revenue Office’s claim that Xianfeng Lu’s companies owed additional duty, penalties and interest on the 2016 purchase.
The dispute traced back to March 2016, when Xianfeng Lu’s Moon Lake Investments Pty Ltd bought the historic Woolnorth property for A$280 million, acquiring the assets of the Van Diemen's Land Company. The initial transaction triggered a standard stamp duty of A$8.2 million, but the revenue office later argued that pre‑deal share transfers and asset re‑allocations required a higher duty.
After the 2021 notice, the companies contested the assessment in the Supreme Court. Acting Justice Shane Marshall dismissed the appeals in November 2024, leaving the companies with a liability that could exceed A$20 million. Undeterred, lawyers filed a further appeal, and the Full Court—Chief Justice Chris Shanahan, Justice Michael Brett and Justice Stephen Estcourt—finally ruled in favour of the investors on July 9.
Xianfeng Lu, who has called Woolnorth “an honour to own”, said the decision restores confidence in the estate’s future. The order releases the companies from the financial burden that had stalled sales of portions of the land to the TRT Pastoral Group and other buyers.
With the debt cleared, the companies can now focus on streamlining operations and finalising pending transactions, including the sale of livestock and machinery listed by Nutrien Harcourts. The ruling also sets a precedent for complex cross‑border property deals in Tasmania.