No plan for North Adelaide Golf Course after 17 meetings
Absent designs, park lands penthouses and potential closures of War Memorial Drive are key concerns as the North Adelaide Golf Course special legislation runs through parliament this week.
The Adelaide City Council administration and the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) had about 17 meetings about the golf course before the government’s legislation was announced last week.
Responding to questions from councillors at Tuesday’s meeting, council CEO Michael Sedgman said “everything hinges” on the government having a plan for the course design.
“We could never get any progress on the discussions with the state government, which were totally dependent on the provision of a concept plan,” he said.
So far, the only information revealed is that Greg Norman will design the course, North Adelaide’s current two courses will be replaced with one 18-hole course to align with the Professional Golfers’ Association standards, and a driving range will go on Park 27A.
Former LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman reacts with spectators during the final round of LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club in 2023. Photo: AAP Image/Michael Errey
The cost of the project hasn’t been allocated in the state budget, but the Treasurer said it can be expected in the mid-year budget review. Premier Peter Malinauskas said last week that they believe they can do the work for under $50 million.
Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said the council gave DPC a Gantt chart with deadlines so that they could reach the end of negotiations by June, but the government missed that deadline.
“I complained regularly that they were missing deadlines, so it was an issue that must have built up over several months but there were no plans available,” Lomax-Smith told Tuesday’s council meeting.
Housing Minister Nick Champion said the state government and the council have “already been working together on the initial design and planning activities for the redevelopment works”.
“The legislation commits to further consultation with council on the development and to resolve the future ownership and operating structure of the North Adelaide Golf Course,” he said.
With no plans or concept designs available, the opposition and the crossbench have raised major concerns about the scope of the bill to allow the golf course redevelopment to be fast-tracked.
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Shadow planning minister Michelle Lensink MLC said the legislation is “a doozy in terms of how much unfettered power it hands over to [Planning Minister] Nick Champion”.
“It’s too open ended… if this bill goes through in the form that it is at the moment there’s nothing to stop Nick Champion from saying, ‘we need more park lands in order to do this’, ‘we want to build a complimentary set of condo apartments’ it’s very, very loose,” Lensink said.
The legislation specifies that when a development proposal for the golf course project is put forward, it must be approved.
“All development proposed to be undertaken, for the purposes of the project, on the project site or the support zones will be taken to be classified by the Planning and Design Code as deemed-to-satisfy development for the purposes of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016,” the bill reads.
“I am deeply and genuinely concerned about the capacity for the state government to just take other parts of the park lands and make unilateral decisions,” Lensink said.
When the bill was debated in the House of Assembly last week, the Liberal Party did not support it.
Matt Cowdrey MP raised concerns about loss of parking and potential road closures at War Memorial Drive, which the legislation would allow.
Champion said the legislation’s power will mainly be used during the building phase if they need to close parts of the road, and that it gives the government “flexibility” to deliver the project.
When asked to confirm there will be no realignment of War Memorial Drive and the current road route, Champion said, “there is certainly no desire to do that by the state government”.
The legislation passed the House, but the Opposition voted against it, and it will be debated in the Legislative Council on Thursday.
Lensink said they will only support the legislation with amendments to remove “unreasonable” elements, including adding requirements that leaseholders are considered, and pulling back some of the more open-ended language.
“This is currently open space, and it’s really important to, I think, have as many checks and balances as we possibly can to ensure that people still have access to the park lands, because I think this current government has treated the park lands as a bit of a land bank,” Lensink said.
Hunter Valley’s Vintage Golf Course was designed by Norman and includes apartments, villa studios and spa suites. This picture: Greg Norman Design
Greens MLC Rob Simms has also indicated he will move an amendment to the bill on Thursday to prevent the project from including accommodation, including hotels or housing.
According to the Greens, of the 104 golf courses designed by Greg Norman internationally, about half feature accommodation, 42 with hotels and nine residential.
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“If the history of Greg Norman Designs is anything to go by, there’s a real risk that a luxury hotel or even luxury housing could be part of this Labor land grab,” Simms said.
“Adelaide already has a hotel on the Adelaide Oval, do we really need another on our public green space?”
Champion said any claims of accommodation plans for the golf course were “ridiculous”.
“What we’re delivering is an even better golf course for South Australians to enjoy,” he said.
“The upgrades will connect spaces to improve public access and movement in and out of the city through the park lands.”
Legislative Council members Connie Bonaros and Sarah Game joined Premier Peter Malinauskas at the announcement last week to support the move.
Bonaros said last week that “it takes a bit more than a few tickets to Liv Golf to buy my support for a proposal like this”.
She said the government have come to the table about things like trees, public ownership and accessible fees and that concerns will be fleshed out further in parliament.
Hole 2 is the hardest hole on the north course at the current North Adelaide Golf Club. Photo: Adelaide City Council
Independent MLC Frank Pangallo said that despite the legislation specifying three trees will be planted for every one removed, “it takes nearly 20 years for a tree to grow”.
“There are literally hundreds of trees there that are going to have to go,” he said.
“The current golf course that is there isn’t suitable, particularly for players of the calibre that we’ve seen at Liv Golf, they can hit the ball a country mile and some of those fairways are certainly too short for those players.”
Pangallo said the other concern is the cost of maintaining the golf course, and whether it will be done through memberships.
“Playing on this golf course, the Premier says even little kids can follow in the footsteps of their heroes in golf and play there, well, how much is it going to cost them?” Pangallo said.
“I support an upgraded North Adelaide. I play there. I’m not so sure that the Premier is a golfer or understands the needs of everyday golfers as well.”
Premier Malinauskas said last week that because the course is publicly owned, while there might be an adjustment in rates, they won’t be too high like other world-leading public golf courses.
Malinauskas said that he discussed with Bonaros including a clause in the legislation to set a differential rate paid by South Australians versus interstate visitors to benefit the taxpayer.
“For those who are travelling from interstate, who are coming here to utilise this facility, who have not yet contributed to the cost of its development, we can legitimately charge them a far higher fee, which is a good thing for the state,” Malinauskas said.
This is not currently set out in the bill.
The legislation will be debated in the Legislative Council on Thursday.
