In the past fortnight significant events in the city have centred on our Park Lands.
As members know, I have actively opposed the North Adelaide Public Golf Course Act 2025, since it passed through the South Australian Parliament in what can best be described as warp speed in June.
Whilst this legislation seizes assets from the City Council, its implications extend far beyond our municipality and the open space we have previously protected. Indeed, it sets a very troubling precedent for how the third tier of government, the closest to the people, will be treated by the State Government into the future.
To reiterate, the North Adelaide Public Golf Course Act 2025 affects more than 10 per cent of the Adelaide Park Lands. It allows the state to incorporate additional land if they wish.
It changes the land designation from Crown land to fee simple, which is the way that most property is designated.
It removes the land from the care and control of the Council.
It transfers all infrastructure and buildings.
It required all existing leases to be cancelled.
It prevents Council from charging any fees or licenses and it precludes any compensation to the City of Adelaide for the assets that have been taken.
But most concerning to the community is that it designates all proposed developments as deemed to comply and removes certain events, including major events, from any EPA oversight.
But coming from local government, perhaps the most extraordinary part of the Act for us is that it explicitly states that if the City Council fails to comply with the direction of the Minister, the Minister may take any action necessary, as if the Minister were the City Council.
Now, when I stood with the Premier at Grange Golf Club to announce LIV Golf's move to North Adelaide from 2028, it was in good faith, and the belief that we would be equal partners, that's what makes the above clauses all the more disappointing, because this Council voted to cooperate and assist the State Government in good faith.
We were led to believe that there would be a collaborative process resulting in a memorandum of understanding that, as a minimum, would provide clarity around operations, event management and communication with our residents.
To support that process, the Council staff shared soil data, topography, heritage reports, irrigation information, tree mapping and planting data.
The staff, our staff, developed an accelerated Gantt chart with a six-month time frame of legislative compliance to accommodate the State Government's urgent upgrade. Council also produced a draft lease and MOU documents, yet despite our efforts to provide assistance, no meaningful agreement could be reached. However, and I'm eternally grateful for this as it's one important benefit from the negotiations, we retain the employment and entitlements of all our staff working on the site.
Now, it wouldn't surprise you that had the timelines we provided for public consultation and submission for proper approvals been adhered to, then the State Government could have achieved their aspirations within the six months they asked and without any reference to the Parliament.
Instead, what we have is what could be called draconian or a heavy-handed legislative manoeuvre while it reflects an absolute failure of the parliamentary process to properly interrogate the detail of legislation or appreciate the enormity of the precedent it establishes for councils across South Australia.
Finally, I believe the Government has fundamentally underestimated the public's attachment to our national heritage listed Park Lands. Forty-two million visits are made to the Park Lands every single year for events, for sport, for recreation, and simply to exist in nature alongside our native flora and fauna.
Now, some may once have argued that the former police barracks site was not real Park Lands, but when you consider the North Adelaide Golf Course, and then consider the future changes to Victoria Park, it begins to look less like an exception and more like a pattern.
I suspect that when we look back from the vantage point of 2036 our city's bicentenary, citizens will recognise this decade as the period in which the greatest damage was done to our most precious civic asset, our Park Lands.
To stay up to date on the State Government's North Adelaide Golf Course redevelopment project or to make an enquiry, contact the State Government:
