Can five thousand sway Gov't or Council?

by Shane Sody

A petition, seeking a win-win for swimmers and your Park Lands, has reached the critical milestone of 5,000 signatures.

The Premier, Peter Malinauskas, and the Member for Adelaide, Lucy Hood, have been advised of the overwhelming community demand for a win-win outcome. Now, we need your help to deliver the same message to the City Council.

You have made it clear: you’re backing a win-win; the full restoration of your Denise Norton Park / Pardinyilla (Park 2) and getting a brand new Aquatic Centre elsewhere, on a convenient near-city brownfield site in, for example, Thebarton, Hindmarsh or Bowden.

Wouldn’t it be so much better to landscape and build a state-of-the-art centre on a site near public transport, rather than tear down dozens of these mature trees and destroy wildlife habitat in your Open Green Public Park 2?

We’re hoping that the State Government will act on the wishes of more than 5,000 petition signatories.

But we need your help, pursuing other strategies to get the win-win outcome that you’ve told the Premier that you want. We can’t do it without you.

In the future, the area marked in blue will be either entirely Open Green Public Park Lands with a new aquatic centre located somewhere else (a win-win for swimmers and your Park Lands) OR the area marked in blue will be covered in bitumen, concrete and an enormous new aquatic and commercial centre (a win-lose for your Park Lands). It’s up to you, right now.

What can you do?

Our petition, with more than 5,000 signatures is addressed to the Premier, not to the City Council. Therefore, it’s now essential to let the Town Hall know your views. Let the Council know that they do NOT have your consent to sell off another slice of your Park Lands.

There are two groups of people who need to hear your message: the City Council bureaucracy AND the elected Councillors.

The closing date for any of these type of submissions is 5.00pm on Thursday 3 August 2023.

Please, jolt the City Council out of what appears to be its complacent subservience to the Stare Government’s Park Lands attack plans. They need to be encouraged to Love Your Park Lands and think win-win, not win-lose.

A win-lose for your Park Lands, that would destroy dozens of mature trees, rather than the win-win option of locating this proposed building on a convenient, near-city brownfield site, close to public transport.

Background

Last year, the State Government picked your Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2) as the site for a new aquatic and commercial centre, without asking you, in the process breaking one of their own promises.

Second-last line of defence - the Feds

Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek

If this campaign fails to dissuade the City Council or the State Government, then later, another fall-back option would become available.

Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek has the power to veto a proposed attack, because your Adelaide Park Lands have National Heritage status.

Her office says it’s been in contact with the South Australian Government: “to remind them of their obligations and requirements under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 for the proposed development.”

Ms Plibersek cannot intervene at this stage; but might do so later, if and when formal development plans are lodged.

If and when development plans are lodged, there will be only 10 days available to respond to the Federal Environment Department, at their website.

Very last line of defence

If none of the above strategies succeeds, 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.

Read more

See our ongoing year-long coverage of the proposed new aquatic and commercial centre: