Unhappy Fifth Anniversary
Today, 6 December 2023, marks an unhappy fifth anniversary for your Adelaide Park Lands.
On this day, exactly five years ago, the State Heritage Council (at that time chaired by Keith Conlon) recommended that your Park Lands be protected as a State Heritage Area.
Since that time, neither of the two successive State Governments (neither the former Marshall Liberal Government, nor the current Malinauskas Labor Government) has acted to put that recommendation into effect.
There has been five years of inaction, and (despite vague assurances) NO timeline has been offered to achieve State Heritage listing. Without State Heritage listing, hopes for World Heritage listing appear forlorn.
The view over Peppermint Park / Wita Wirra (Park 18)
Background: State Heritage Assessment
Your Park Lands received National Heritage Listing in 2008 so it was a no-brainer (back in 2009) that we would ask the State Heritage Council to consider whether SA should follow the Federal Government's lead and declare that your Park Lands are worthy of State “heritage" recognition.
State (and World) Heritage listing of the Park Lands is among APA's key 'Objectives' in our Constitution.
Eight years after our “nomination” some action commenced. A State "heritage assessment" of your Adelaide Park Lands and City Squares finally began in April 2017.
A period of public consultation was held from June to September 2017. Not surprisingly, the public was overwhelmingly in favour of State Heritage recognition:
A consultant’s report, dated May 2018, was released publicly by the State Heritage Council on 6 December 2018. The assessment is a comprehensive 91-page document that examines the history, features, and values of your Park Lands. Not surprisingly, the assessment found that your Park Lands do meet most of the legal criteria for State Heritage recognition.
The full assessment can be downloaded as a PDF file from this location: https://cdn.environment.sa.gov.au/environment/docs/her-gen-adelaide-park-lands-heritage-assessment-report.pdf NB: (it is a large file: 48 Mb)
After considering the assessment, the State Heritage Council reported to the then-Minister for Environment and Water (David Speirs, MP) “recommending the Adelaide Park Lands, Squares and City Layout be recommended to the Minister for Planning, for State Heritage Area consideration.”
We have been writing to various Ministers and State bureaucrats about this since December 2018, and received replies which, in short, amount to a list of excuses and reasons for procrastination.
There was an apparent breakthrough on 9 February 2022, when all parties voted in State Parliament’s Legislative Council to support State Heritage listing. However that vote was of no effect as Parliament was dissolved shortly afterwards, due to the looming State election on 19 March 2022.
Greens MLC Robert Simms re-introduced his Bill after the 2022 State election, but on 20 October 2022, the Labor Party reversed its previous support. Labor members actually voted AGAINST Heritage listing of your Park Lands. Although the Bill passed the Upper House, with the support of the Greens, Liberals, and SA Best, it was, nevertheless, doomed to failure without the support of Labor MPs in the Lower House of State Parliament.
In May 2023, the Heritage Places (Adelaide Park Lands) Amendment Bill 2022 was introduced to the House of Assembly by Liberal MP Jack Batty. However, since then, Labor MPs have blocked any debate on the Bill.
So, five years later, we are all still waiting.
Waiting for State Heritage listing.