Urrbrae gatehouse spare parts | Whistleblower fundraiser support
This week, InSider stumbles over some unused bits of a relocated heritage building, and counts donations for a crucial High Court challenge.
Spare gatehouse parts, anyone?
The Urrbrae gatehouse, the state heritage listed structure that stood proudly for more than 130 years on the corner of Cross and Fullarton Road, is adjusting to life in its new Claremont Avenue setting.
The gatehouse officially reopened two weeks ago as a volunteer centre within the University of Adelaide’s Waite Arboretum after a painstaking brick-by-brick tear-down and rebuild.
But the long-running gatehouse saga – which dates back to December 2020 when the former Marshall Government announced it would demolish the structure despite receiving an engineering report that advised “relocating it is feasible”, prompting months of community pressure to save the building – still has one chapter to go.
A sharp-eyed reader has pointed out to InSider that stacks of unused bricks and stones from the original gatehouse remain strewn across a nearby car park like a big South Australian heritage Lego set.
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The Department for Infrastructure and Transport said the materials were from the “non-heritage sections” of the gatehouse’s rear that were “retained during the re-building process, in case the additional materials were required during construction”.
In other words: if something goes wrong, it’s good to have some spare parts, right?
What’s less clear is what will happen to these old bricks. Perhaps a second, baby gatehouse? A brick auction to raise money for the university merger?
A department spokesperson said the unused materials “will be returned to the University of Adelaide”.
The University of Adelaide, though, said the department “is presently responsible for the Gatehouse Project and is working with the University of Adelaide to determine best use of any unused materials”.
If anyone fancies a big stack of former heritage-listed bricks, you know who to call.
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Fundraising boost for ATO whistleblower
There’s been a small win for ex-tax office worker Richard Boyle in his long-running fight to avoid prosecution for blowing the whistle on aggressive debt-recovery practices at the ATO’s Adelaide office.
The Whistleblower Justice Fund, an entity set up by former senator Rex Patrick, this week raised $23,000 in less than eight hours to fund the first stage of Boyle’s High Court appeal against prosecution.
To briefly recap, Boyle revealed to a joint ABC and Fairfax media investigation in 2018 that ATO staff had been instructed to use harsher debt collection tactics on indebted individuals and small businesses, including orders to require a bank to hand over money.
Boyle is now facing 24 charges – being pursued by Commonwealth prosecutors – that could send him to jail over the release of that information.
His trial in the South Australian District Court was put on hold this week after he indicated he would file a High Court appeal against an earlier court ruling that he is not immune from prosecution under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
High Court appeals are, well, not known for bargain bin pricing.
The justice fund expects Boyle will receive legal aid for most of his appeal but said they needed to fundraise the $23,000 for the first stage of the process.
Patrick said the fundraising result shows that federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus – who could drop the prosecution at the stroke of a pen – has “totally underestimated the support for Richard Boyle in the community”.
“Richard’s last hope is for the High Court to re-interpret our current whistleblower protection laws with greater regard to the objects of the legislation as set by the Parliament, which could never have been to hang a good man,” the former senator said.
