The Adelaide City Council, and State Parliament’s Upper House have each passed separate resolutions in support of hundreds of trees in your Helen Mayo Park (Park 27), all facing destruction to make way for Premier Steven Marshall’s threatened $660 million stadium.

On Tuesday 26 October, the City Council reversed its earlier (14 September) support for the State Government’s threatened “Riverbank Arena”

A motion put by Councillor Phillip Martin to oppose the “arena” was won by the narrowest of margins (6 votes to 5) on the casting vote of the Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor.

Read the story in City Mag:
https://citymag.indaily.com.au/commerce/councillors-vote-to-reject-state-govs-park-lands-grab/

The following day (Wed 27 October) Greens MLC Robert Simms, succeeded with a motion in State Parliament’s Legislative Council to support Helen Mayo Park.

Read the story from the ABC:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/upper-house-joins-council-opposing-arena-on-adelaide-parklands/100574936

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This action to support your Park Lands appears to have been aroused by APA’s “Save Helen Mayo Park Picnic Rally”. on Sunday 17 October.

On that day, a COVID-limited crowd of over 100 came together to lodge their support for the hundreds of trees in Helen Mayo Park, including dozens of river red gums, river she-oaks and other trees.

Contrary to assertions by Premier Steven Marshall, the proposed stadium would not be restricted only to “degraded” parts of Helen Mayo Park but would also destroy these century-old trees on the river’s edge, and many others.

The Government’s re-zoning plans would convert all nine hectares of Helen Mayo Park into an “Entertainment Precinct”. Other zoning changes proposed by the State Government would allow developers to take over other riverbank Park Land sites to a total of 70 hectares.

Robert Simms, Greens MLC told the rally: “We're going to do everything we can to defeat these changes when they come to the Parliament.“

The SA Labor candidate for Adelaide, Lucy Hood, promised that Labor would support that Greens motion.

Ms Hood went further, promising that, if a Labor Government were to be elected next March, we “will not build permanent structures on Helen Mayo [Park]. We will protect the trees and the beautiful walking and cycling paths. Nor will a Malinauskas Labor Government build a $662 million basketball stadium. Nor will we build permanent structures on Pinky Flat, on Elder Park, or on the River Torrens itself.”

However Labor has not yet promised to reverse the current Government’s moves to re-zone Park Lands for development.

Neither Premier Steven Marshall nor any member of his Government was available to speak to the ‘Save Helen Mayo Park Picnic Rally’ in support of the Government’s plans.

Here is The Advertiser’s report of the rally, published on 18 October.

You may have seen the Premier’s comment that a stadium on Park Lands was justified partly on the basis that the proposed site in Helen Mayo Park was “degraded”. We immediately hit back at that excuse with this pithy 51-second video on social media.

Read more about:

• the stadium threat

• the broader re-zoning threat.