by Carla Caruso

Councillor Henry Davis probably does not fit the stereotype of a “tree hugger”.

The 32-year-old city-dweller is a specialist tax lawyer with his own practice, a former Burnside councillor and Liberal party member, and a Freemason.

But the new Adelaide city councillor – who’s also on APA’s managing committee and our Park Lands Art Prize subcommittee – believes he has what it takes to fight for your Park Lands.

“I think every [council] candidate was in favour of the Park Lands, to be honest,” Henry says. “That was the trope that everyone rolled out.

“No one’s going to say that they hate the Park Lands, apart from a couple of candidates who were like, ‘Yeah, we should develop it.’ But I think that with my … experience on Burnside [Council], I can actually deliver on these projects.”

He used his involvement with the $7.4 million upgrade of Kensington Wama / Kensington Gardens Reserve, which includes a new wetland and fitness circuit, as an example.

“A lot of people don’t really understand how to actually get things done. I have a history of actually developing master plans, putting them in place, getting them funded, and carrying out that work, as well as the economic management behind me for the council to be able to afford it. So, I think that’s maybe what people saw in me.”

He adds: “Basically, what I think we should be doing is implementing master plans for each of the parks … You map out exactly what you want to do with each park. You might not have the money for the next 10, 15 years.

“But if the government do have money available for projects, then … you can basically hand them over dossiers, and say, ‘Hey, will you help fund it?’”

Henry would also like to see an investigation into the proposed Adelaide Recreation Circuit – an uninterrupted walk/run/bike circuit that snakes its way around the Park Lands.

“One of the reasons why I think that the Liberal/Labor governments feel so free to develop the Park Lands with hospitals or … anything is, any good idea they have, they’ll put it there because there’s nobody who’s really that angry about it.

“They’ll find a plot of land that hasn’t been looked after, that is ugly. And then they go, ‘We are going to build this amazing thing’, and they show you a render on top of this little [neglected] spot.

“But imagine if they tried to put the Women’s and Children’s [Hospital] in the middle of Botanic Gardens [Park 11]. That would be a very different story, right?

“Having these master plans for each of the parks, first of all, shows the vision. We have a better render of that space for people to get behind. And secondly, they need to be able to access it.

“Connecting all of the Park Lands [with a circuit] so that then people can see it … we’ll get people invested emotionally in that facility because we don’t have that at the moment.

“Like, why would anyone in Adelaide get super worked-up about, you know, Park 21 West [right now]?”

Henry’s other policies for the Park Lands include prioritising its World Heritage listing, reforming the Kadaltilla / Park Lands Authority to give it actual protectionary powers, and installing better lighting.

He also wants to “get cracking” on infrastructure management plans in the parks. “A lot of the sporting infrastructure is degrading rapidly, and it’s reached the end of its useful life.

“So, this is a really good opportunity, where we can look to consolidate infrastructure that’s currently sitting there, and then return some of that infrastructure back to open space.”

When Henry left school, he served in the Air Force, working at Edinburgh’s RAAF Base. “Something I learned in the Air Force is you don’t walk past the problem. If you see something, it’s your personal responsibility to fix it.”

It’s this ethos that’s driving him to also help unsuccessful lord mayoral candidate Rex Patrick fight this year’s city council election results in the Court of Disputed Returns. Rex lost to Jane Lomax-Smith by 52 votes at the November election.

Last month, SA Electoral Commissioner Mick Sherry announced he was investigating suspected “voting irregularities” in three council elections. This included 90 ballots in the Adelaide City Council central ward election.

In the meantime, though, Henry has the festive break on his mind, which he’ll be spending with his family and girlfriend. “I’m going to Beyond The Valley Festival in Victoria. It’s a three-day camping festival. I’m trying to search for a replacement for my three-piece suit, to a tie-dye shirt.”

Perhaps the Canberra-raised councillor isn’t such an atypical Park Lands advocate, after all…