More Secret deals
by Shane Sody
The State Government and the City Council are negotiating in secret about 'commercial-in-confidence' usage of another part of your Park Lands.
The State Government broke four of its own promises and ignored 8,100 signatures on a petition when last November its contractors destroyed dozens of trees in your Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinilla (Park 2).
After the State Government refused to acknowledge overwhelming community demands to build on an alternative brownfield site, construction of a new Aquatic Centre is now well under way.
The construction is timed for completion just before the next State election in March 2026.
This is the devastation unnecessarily brought to your Denise Norton Park /Pardipardinyilla (Park 2). Pic: Department for Infrastructure and Transport.
However the process is now bogged down in secrecy, involving commercial interests.
Kadaltilla/the Park Lands Authority last week (28 March) considered a "proposed design" for the site of the current (old) Aquatic Centre, some of which is to be returned to Park Lands.
However this item was considered in secret, behind closed doors because it was considered to be 'commercial-in-confidence'.
A month earlier, on 22 February 2024, the Park Lands Authority had closed the doors (to what is normally a public meeting) while considering a draft of the long-delayed new Park Lands Management Strategy.
Why? Because the agenda item contained "... material ... the State Government has requested be considered in confidence [because] the details of the request are sensitive in nature..." and also that it "could prejudice the position and any negotiations between the City of Adelaide and the State Government".
Secrecy , for commercial purposes, with your Open, Green, Public Park Lands. Pic: Shutterstock
Likewise, on 6 February the City Council's "Community Services and Culture Committee" declared secret a "Park Lands Licence Request", using identical wording. It was determined that details would not be revealed to you "until approval is provided by the Minister of Human Services."
Pic: Department for Infrastructure and Transport, and (inset): Secret Squirrel
Nevertheless, it is a strange situation when decisions affecting your Open Green Public Park Lands are kept secret from you.
Most of Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2) is essentially under the control of the State Government, after being handed over by the City Council in a fiercely contested decision in October 2023.
Here is the State Government's latest "Construction Update" (dated March 2024) on the new Aquatic Centre: (PDF, 2 pages)