"Plant to Protect" Sunday 9 July

Your Park Lands need your support on the morning of Sunday 9 July.

On that morning, please help us plant up to 4,800 of these paper Park Lands supporters into the grass of Denise Norton Park/ Pardipardinyilla (Park 2) to show how many people want to protect this Park from a looming Government attack.

More than 4,800 people have signed up to demand a win-win with a new Aquatic Centre on a brownfield site.

Both the State Government and the City Council have ignored the thousands of South Australians who've signed a petition, demanding that a new Aquatic Centre should be built on a near-city brownfield site close to public transport.

The Government has refused to acknowledge its mistake of targeting your Park Lands again, for a $135 million two-storey megalith.

“Hands Up for Your Trees”. More than 4,800 petition signatories are being ignored. Pic: Alex Frayne.

The State Government has refused to acknowledge your signatures on our petition.

The State Government wants to build not just swimming pools, but also shops, club rooms, a gym, offices AND a vastly expanded car park, on your Park Lands right next to what would be the soon-to-be-demolished Aquatic Centre.

And the City Council has voted to let this happen!

The State Government’s proposed expanded car park, and double-storey building, which the City Council has been told would be 10% larger than the existing Aquatic Centre, and would include shops, club rooms, a gym, consulting rooms and offices on its upper storey. This building is welcome, but on a brownfield site, NOT on your Park Lands.

The State Government is pretending that it has community support for this Park Lands attack, despite loud community calls not to repeat the mistakes of the past by building afresh over a huge area of your Park Lands.

The Government’s own Infrastructure SA has told State agencies to “have stronger regard for stakeholder views and environmental impacts during option development processes.”

On Tuesday 27 June 2023, the City Council rolled over and meekly accepted the Government's plan, authorising the Council CEO or the Lord Mayor to sign a lease, as soon as it's prepared.

So there is no time to lose.

A new swimming centre and other facilities are welcome, of course, but there are many convenient sites (e.g. in Thebarton, Hindmarsh, Bowden or elsewhere) that could be purchased, without attacking your Park Lands.

The Government's actions are in breach of three promises:

Three broken promises: (1) to protect Adelaide's tree canopy; (2) to consult you on your preferred Aquatic Centre location; and (3) to keep the old centre operating while a new one was being built.

TIME FOR ACTION! What can you do?

We need your IMMEDIATE support in one or more of these ways:


1. HELP Prepare the props: TUESDAY 4th JULY.

Spend an hour or more to help prepare thousands of these props. There will be a working bee on Tuesday 4 July, from 4pm to 7pm. Please come for just an hour, starting at 4pm, 5pm, or 6pm. Numbers are limited, so please reserve your place around our props table at the Box Factory Community Centre: https://events.humanitix.com/plant-to-protect-preparing-the-props

2. Plant to protect: SUNDAY 9TH JULY

Come to this site next to the Aquatic Centre in Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2) early on the morning of Sunday 9 July. (Any time from 8am). Spend whatever time you can spare (30 minutes or more) "planting to protect" with each paper person symbolising one of the 4,800 or more signatories on our petition.

“Plant to Protect” with us on Sunday morning, 9 July, any time from 8am, immediately south of the Aquatic Centre here in Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2)

3. MEDIA CALL: SUNDAY 9TH JULY

Attend a media event at midday on that day, standing alongside the thousands of planted paper people, and black-shrouded trees, to signal your protection for this Park.



4. Recycle the props

Whether or not you can attend this event, you can also show your support by collecting some of the props and either posting or delivering them to the Premier.


5. DIRECT ACTION - LATER, IF NECESSARY

If neither the State Government nor the City Council heeds your message, and the bulldozers are threatening to move in to destroy the trees, will you put yourself in their way? If you’re prepared to rebel for your Park Lands, then please give us your confidential contact details, so we can invite you later to participate in specific direct action. Contact secretary@adelaide-parklands.asn.au to be put on a confidential alert list.

PUSHING BACK ON THE SPIN

The likely pushback from the Government will include these talking points, or their spin. But you can see through their misleading claims.

“NO NET LOSS”

The Government will claim that the new Aquatic Centre would have a footprint no bigger than the current one, (or “1,000 square metres less”, they sometimes claim) so they will say that your Park Lands will be no worse off.

ANSWER:

If 1,000 square metres restored is regarded as a good outcome, why not achieve something 28 times better? If the new Aquatic Centre is located on a brownfield site instead, this park would enjoy a net improvement of 2.8 hectares: i.e. 28,000 square metres. We’re fighting for a much better outcome: a win-win for swimmers and your Park.

There are many, better potenial locations for a new Aquatic Centre. Therefore “Restore and Protect” would be a win-win. “Restore and Attack” is old-style politics: it would be a classic case of win-lose for your Park Lands.

Anyway, the claim of "no net loss" simply ignores or disregards the loss of wildlife habitat from destruction of dozens of mature trees.

“IT WAS AN ELECTION PROMISE”

The Government will claim that before the 2022 State election, it promised a new Aquatic Centre on this Park.

ANSWER:

No, the pre-election promise was deliberately ambiguous as to the possible location. The Government promised to consult the community on the best location, but then last year carried out a sham process, refusing to acknowledge the possibility of any site other than this Park.

Read more

See our ongoing coverage of the proposed new Aquatic Centre:

Read recent analysis (19 June 2023) by author John Bridgland “Public Not to be Formally Consulted” (PDF, 5 pages, 190 Kb)