Environmental issues are being raised by Kawarau Jet as a cloak to disguise commercial concerns, the Environment Court was told in Queenstown.
Those comments by Queenstown Water Taxis Ltd counsel Pru Steven, of Christchurch, came during the procedural hearing and pre-hearing conference chaired by Judge Jon Jackson and commissioner Charles Manning last week.
Kawarau Jet Services Holdings Ltd and Clearwater Pursuits Ltd opposed the applications by Queenstown Water Taxis, trading as Thunder Jet, for the early commencement of its resource consent to operate commercial jet boats on Lake Wakatipu and the Kawarau River.
An early commencement would not mean adverse cumulative effects on the amenity and landscape or on Kawarau Jet's operations, Ms Steven said.
Warer Taxis believed effective radio communications were available, which was consistent with the findings of independent commissioners John Matthews and Leigh Overton in September.
However, Kawarau Jet had a "closed mind" to devising a radio protocol and had declined to attend a meeting on the issue held by Maritime New Zealand, she said.
All of its business interference objections, such as claims it would have to forego Kando Slow Jet excursions and hire spotters at points along the waterways, were the effects of trade competition.
The changes made to Kawarau Jet's operations were because it once had exclusive use of the river and were a consequence of a second operator on the river.
Ms Steven said it was "inappropriate" for Kawarau Jet to continually question the authority of Maritime New Zealand.
Early commencement would gather evidence the operation was safe as the commissioners determined.
Queenstown Water Taxis' interest in using private, wider-reaching radio channel EN67 to communicate with Kawarau Jet, as well as sharing the Queenstown Lakes District Council-owned public radio channel 5, was proposed before the hearing but after the notification of the application.
Kawarau Jet counsel Jim Castiglione, of Queenstown, said the public was given the impression Water Taxis would communicate with everyone on Channel 5.
He disputed the jurisdiction of the commissioners, who made their decision based on different evidence in the hearing and the notified application.
He said Water Taxis wanted to use its consent to get back into business and recover costs of the legal proceedings.
But it had not provided evidence of those assertions and Kawarau Jet was not the only submitter in opposition.
Kawarau Jet's safety measures were seen as "excessive or unnecessary" by Water Taxis, but the new operator's safety procedures were the "bare minimum" required by maritime law.
Judge Jackson asked if an early commencement would allow Kawarau Jet to assess the effects and bring evidence to a substantive hearing.
Mr Castiglione said an early commencement "flies in the face of our client's safe operational plan in regards to the Health and Safety in Employment Act."
Differing consent restrictions of distance from islands between the rival operators could lead to collisions.
The commissioners failed to understand those differences and created a safety risk, he said.
Queenstown Water Taxi's proposal to use Channel 5 to communicate with all waterway users "was to mitigate the acknowledged safety risk" and its assertion of compliance with Maritime requirements did not mitigate those risks, he said.
Judge Jackson reserved his decision on the applications and scheduled a substantive hearing for next May or June.
Ms Steven said she would call five jet-boat experts, a Water Taxis director, a radio communications consultant, a planning consultant, a river rafter and landscape architect.
Jayne Macdonald, solicitor for the council as respondent, would call a planner, safety and noise authority and possibly a landscape expert.
Mr Castiglione would call two representatives from Kawarau Jet plus experts in planning, landscape and amenity values, traffic engineering, noise, marine safety, radio communications, jet boating, river rafting and "international recreation opportunities".
