A famous Australian amusement park has rejected claims it was “secretly” storing hundreds of unregistered Chinese electric vehicles, saying all operations were conducted “with full knowledge and oversight” and that the cars were “not abandoned in any way.”
The Jamberoo Action Park on the New South Wales South Coast has issued a stern response to reports it had been covertly storing hundreds of BYDs in its car park over the winter months, after residents purportedly complained to council.
Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of the Chinese-made BYDs — the world’s highest-selling electric vehicle manufacturer, which recently surpassed Tesla — were seen at the site, which sits adjacent to the popular water park.
Photos show rows upon rows of cars without number plates and covered in protective wrapping, some still with shipping labels commonly used before cars hit showrooms. The vision mirrors similar scenes recently photographed in Perth.
Jamberoo claims it was simply trying to utilise the space, which sits unused in winter. Source: ACA
Council intervenes after residents complain
The mysterious set-up allegedly prompted some locals to complain to the Kiama Council, which said it had only recently been made aware of the arrangement.
“Since it came to our attention, council staff have been working on the issue, in accordance with our Compliance and Enforcement Policy and timeframes,” a council spokesperson told Nine. “Council has received several complaints about this issue.”
The council said its compliance officers had inspected the site and issued a Notice of Intention to issue an Order under the EP&A Act — essentially a formal warning telling the owners of Action Park to stop operating without proper approval.
Compliance and planning teams then met with the operators of Jamberoo after the initial notice was issued. During that meeting, council advised that development consent was required to operate a transport depot and that such a use was “prohibited in the rural zones.”
In response, the park’s owners lodged a development application for a “Car Park and Passenger Transport Facility.” The proposal was open for public comment until September 22 and ultimately refused by council on October 20.
The mysterious set-up allegedly prompted some locals to complain to the Kiama Council. Source: news.com.au
Jamberoo hits back at claims of secrecy
The decision has left Jamberoo frustrated, with the park accusing council of taking an unnecessarily heavy-handed approach. In a lengthy media statement, the park reminded council that it operates for just 150 days of the year, meaning in the off months, it is forced to “manage wages and maintenance budgets” with little income.
Jamberoo claims “the arrangement came about” because a family-owned car carrier approached it — “a small business simply trying to keep up with demand”. “Now, because of this decision, they’ll have to scale back operations in an already tough economy,” a Jamberoo spokesperson said.
“At a time when government policy is actively encouraging the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs), society must be able to accommodate that shift in a practical way.
“Businesses like ours were simply trying to do that — find solutions, not create problems. In addition to the impact on the car carrier business, there is a direct economic impact for all businesses involved and the local community.”
Jamberoo argued “we should be looking for opportunities for businesses to invest and diversify”, not taking them away unnecessarily.
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“If you can’t store cars in a car park, without impact to anyone, then something in the planning system clearly isn’t working,” it said. “Before lodging our Development Application, we sought and received legal advice confirming that the activity was permissible.
“We shared that advice with the Kiama Municipal Council, and to date, we’ve not seen any legal advice from Council that contradicts it, nor have we seen any actual complaints formally lodged during the DA process. We also specifically requested the opportunity to respond to any concerns if they arose, but none were provided to us.”
Jamberoo branded council’s stance “contradictory” and unfair given the circumstances. The spokesperson said the car park in question “isn’t new — it’s the same one council asked us to build years ago, even though it exceeds our operational needs.”
The park said using the space in this way would have created “incremental income for a seasonal business” while supporting local jobs and regional investment. It also claimed it had asked for the chance to respond to any issues raised during the process, but “none were provided.”
The park said it intends to appeal the decision, maintaining that it was a “practical, low-impact use of existing infrastructure that should never have been knocked back.”
Council said it is now working with the park’s owners “towards resolving this issue and ensuring the site is only operated for authorised uses.”
BYD weighs into the controversy
A BYD spokesperson said the company’s vehicles are handled by an external logistics partner rather than BYD itself. “In NSW, BYD’s vehicle storage is managed by a storage and logistics partner overseeing several sites in the Port Kembla and surrounding areas,” a spokesperson told news.com.au.
Public filings show BYD assumed full control of its Australian distribution and logistics operations in mid-July 2025, ending its previous partnership with EVDirect. Around the same time, the automaker appointed a vehicle logistics and planning manager as part of its move toward greater vertical integration.
EVDirect confirmed that its distribution role formally ended in mid-July, but questions remain over who is now managing the vehicles — and why they ended up stored at Jamberoo.
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