by Shane Sody

More and more people are stepping up to urge construction of a new $82-million Aquatic Centre on a near-city brownfield site, rather than repeating the past by attacking your Park Lands.

Two separate campaigns are under way: one campaign to persuade the State Government; the other campaign to persuade the City Council.

The aim of both campaigns is to PROTECT and RESTORE.

1. To the State Government

One campaign, led by the Adelaide Park Lands Association, is petitioning Premier Peter Malinauskas to: “Save these trees - choose a brownfield site for new Aquatic Centre”. Here’s the petition link:

https://www.change.org/p/save-these-trees-choose-a-brownfield-site-for-new-aquatic-centre

On 20 December 2022 we advised the Premier that the petition was nearing 1,000 signatures.

By 14 January, the number of signatories on our petition had grown to 1,352. We had not received any reply from the Premier.

2. To the City Council

A parallel campaign is aiming to convince the City Council to rule out a building site on any part of your Adelaide Park Lands.

We’ve urged Park Lands supporters to write to City Councillors to "reject any new lease over any part of the Park Lands and advise the State Government instead to choose a brownfield site." (See below under the heading: ‘What Else Can You Do?’)

Separately, a new paper-based petition to the City Council has similar aims. The paper-based petition, organised by local residents, urges the City Council to:

1. refuse to grant any lease to the State Government for a new Aquatic Centre in Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2) or any other part of the Adelaide Park Lands;

2. advise the State Government to choose an alternative near-city brownfield site for a new Aquatic Centre; and

3. petition the State Government to approve the long-delayed State Heritage listing of the Adelaide Park Lands, and support an application to UNESCO for World Heritage listing.

You can download and print the petition on a single A4 page, collect signatures, and deliver it to the City Council.

Read more:

• about the community’s fight to RESTORE and PROTECT Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2);

• about the State Government’s propaganda campaign, full of illusions, diversions and falsehoods;

• about the State Government’s refusal, so far, to consider any brownfield option for several of its proposed new developments on your Park Lands.

What else can you do?

• If you haven’t done so already, then please sign the on-line petition to the Premier: https://www.change.org/p/save-these-trees-choose-a-brownfield-site-for-new-aquatic-centre

• Print out, sign the paper-based petition, collect other signatures if you can, and deliver it to the City Council. You can also access and sign a petition, or drop off signed copies of the petition at Fenwick Real Estate, 56 Prospect Road.

• Do you have a shop or an office with a public front counter? If so, please put some copies of the printed petition on the counter, to invite signatures.

• Write to the Premier, Peter Malinauskas, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis and/or the Member for Adelaide, Lucy Hood. Click on their names to open a draft suggested email; and/or

• Contact members of the City Council individually, and urge them to recommend to the State Government a brownfield site for the Aquatic Centre, not a Park Lands site.

Suggested email (please amend as you see fit)

Dear Councillor:

Congratulations for your decision on 13 December 2022, to support the Adelaide Park Lands.

I especially appreciate the Council’s expressed willingness to engage with the State Government on a long-term strategy to restore parts of the Park Lands to ‘Open, Green, Public.’

This Council resolution will be put to the test in 2023 if the State Government continues its agenda to construct an $82 million aquatic centre on a new site in Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2). The State Government so far has ignored overwhelming community demand to select a brownfield site instead.

When push comes to shove this year, I hope that you will stand firm on your commitment to the Park Lands, respect the wishes of the public, reject any new lease over any part of the Park Lands and advise the State Government to choose a brownfield site instead.

Regards

Here are their email addresses:

• p.martin@cityofadelaide.com.au

• a.abrahimzadeh@cityofadelaide.com.au

• s.hou@cityofadelaide.com.au

• k.snape@cityofadelaide.com.au

• m.couros@cityofadelaide.com.au

• j.giles@cityofadelaide.com.au

• c.noon@cityofadelaide.com.au

• d.elliott@cityofadelaide.com.au

• h.davis@cityofadelaide.com.au

• j.li@cityofadelaide.com.au

• m.siebentritt@cityofadelaide.com.au

• lordmayor@cityofadelaide.com.au

See related stories about the proposed new Aquatic Centre:

• Government to chop falcon, possum, cockatoo habitat (27 Jan 2023)

• Aquatic centre double press: Gov’t and Council (15 Jan 2023)

• Aquatic centre: petition reaches 1,000 signatures (20 Dec 2022)

• Cognitive dissonance on your tree canopy (4 Dec 2022)

• Ideal brownfield opportunity (29 Nov 2022)

• Diversions, illusions on Park attacks (12 Nov 2022)

• Demand brownfield building sites instead (28 Oct 2022)

• Patrick’s FOI probe on Aquatic Centre bungle (26 Sept 2022)

• Hands Up for your Trees (12 Sept 2022)

• New Aquatic Centre site targets dozens of mature trees (5 Sept 2022)

• No assurances on tree destruction plans (15 Aug 2022)

• When given a real choice (31 July 2022)

• Aquatic centre consultation farce (22 July 2022)

• Hindmarsh, Brompton, for an Aquatic Centre? (30 June 2022)

• Olympic swimmer backs Park restoration (29 June 2022)

• Imagine a restoration of this Park (20 June 2022)

• State Gov’t tree threats making national headlines (16 June 2022)

• Think Outside the Box for locations (26 May 2022)

• Aquatic mistakes - learn from history and restore a Park (16 Feb 2022)