by Shane Sody
Greens MLC, Robert Simms has succeeded in getting two Park Lands protection measures through the upper house of State Parliament.
1. Police barracks land grab
One Bill, called the New Women's and Children's Hospital (Relocation of SA Police Facilities) Amendment Bill 2023 - would strip the Police Minister of his power to seize Park Lands for any new SAPOL barracks.
That power was assigned to the Police Minister as part of the New Women’s and Children’s Hospital Act 2022.
Now that the State Government has decided that new Police barracks will NOT be located on your Park Lands, this provision is unnecessary.
Deleting that provision from the New Women’s and Children’s Hospital Act 2022 would ensure that no future Government could make such a land grab for new police barracks.
2. Rezoning
The other Bill would prevent the Government from rezoning any part of your Park Lands without the approval of both Houses of Parliament.
The Planning, Development and Infrastructure (Adelaide Park Lands) Amendment Bill 2023 would require any attempt at re-zoning parts of your Park Lands for development could not proceed unless supported by a majority of MPs in both Houses.
Both the previous Liberal State Government and the current Labor State Government have used Ministerial powers to re-zone parts of your Park Lands, clearing the way for massive new developments.
Parts of Helen Mayo Park (Park 27) have been re-zoned as “Entertainment” zone.
What next?
The Greens Robert Simms introduced each of these two Bills to the Legislative Council back in June 2023, but it wasn’t until the evening of Wednesday 30 August when they were voted upon and passed, with the support of Liberal and SA Best Members.
You can read the speeches here:
New Women's and Children's Hospital (Relocation of SA Police Facilities) Amendment Bill 2023
Planning, Development and Infrastructure (Adelaide Park Lands) Amendment Bill 2023
Both Bills will now be debated in the lower house, (the House of Assembly) where the Labor party has a comfortable majority of votes.
In the upper house, none of the Labor Members spoke on the Relocation of Police Facilities Bill so it remains to be seen whether Labor would support it in the House of Assembly.
Labor opposed the Planning, Development and Amendment Bill, so unless the ALP has a change of heart, that Bill will be doomed in the House of Assembly.
