Your views: on police horses and park lands
Today, readers comment on the Malinauskas Government earmarking new barracks sites to lance an uncomfortable political boil.
Commenting on the story: Police horses land at airport and CBD as Govt sidesteps park lands grab
Hooray, sanity prevails. Well done Premier, but you did have me worried there for a while. – Greg Thomas
It’s a long-established political principle that one shouldn’t call on a fight if it can be avoided. The self-induced debacle triggered by Premier Malinauskas regarding an eight-hectare raid on our park lands for replacement SAPOL barracks appears to have been resolved.
But it could have been avoided last September when state cabinet discussed the Women’s and Children’s Hospital project. In the cabinet papers there would have been alternative, non-park-lands horse barracks sites to choose from.
Now to the 10-storey hospital project. An ideal site exists a kilometre further west, where a huge vacant site is for sale. A multi-storey car park is adjacent. Not there? Cabinet also explored other non-park lands sites. But the Malinauskas ‘wisdom’ prevailed – triggering another, so-far-unresolved public stoush over a proposed four-hectare Park 27 site project and leaving Adelaide MP, Lucy Hood, badly tarnished for endorsing it.
State Labor could put it all in of this the past by abandoning the hospital bid to build in the park lands. There are many alternative sites. And if so, there’d be no need to demolish 10 state-heritage-listed barracks buildings, or even relocate the barracks. This would save millions. What a bog of muddy, controversial confusion our Premier has led his team into. Thankfully, the public can pull him out of it – if he would only listen. The Adelaide park lands are not free land, they’re priceless. – John Bridgland
Commenting on the story: Call to halt hospital park lands build over ‘flawed’ advice
Stay informed, daily
Two highly qualified experts have voiced serious misgivings regarding the proposed site for the new WCH.
In two independent reports, the lack of critical review over the site choice is emphasised and present the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure with substantial evidence, based on extensive engineering experience, that the current proposed site for the new WCH is an erroneous choice.
More importantly it will not provide the benefits to South Australian taxpayers as could otherwise be found. The rushed legislation to enable the government to make decisions about this project without appropriate consultations is concerning.
On behalf of the member groups of Community Alliance SA, I ask the Premier to heed this excellent expert advice, reconsider the proposed alternative to the current site, avoid the destruction of the State Heritage Listed Police Barracks, upgrade the site or find an alternative site which is not on the park lands, resulting in a win-win resolution for the community, for state heritage, for medical health and for the park lands. – Dianne van Eck
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