Tourist tax on the cards for golf course
The North Adelaide Golf Course legislation has passed parliament with a clause ensuring South Australians will pay less than interstate golfers on the public course.
The controversial laws allowing the Malinauskas Government to fast-track the development of North Adelaide passed parliament last night.
The Opposition voted against the bill, but it passed the Legislative Council with support of crossbench MPs Connie Bonaros and Sarah Game.
Bonaros and Game joined Premier Peter Malinauskas last week when the special legislation was announced, foreshadowing that keeping course fees affordable for South Australians was a key part of the deal.
This was successfully added to the final version of the bill, which requires the planning minister to “ensure that a differential price structure applies in respect of access to the public golf course”.
The bill specifies “persons who are able to produce evidence” that they are a resident in SA “will be entitled to pay a lesser fee for that access than persons who are not able to produce such evidence”.
Malinauskas said last week that charging interstate visitors a higher fee was “good for the state”.
“The reason why you would do that is because South Australians having invested their money in a public amenity, in a public facility, should not be imposed with a higher fee, clearly,” he said.
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“But 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.
“We know that the privately run golf courses in Adelaide, during the course of LIV, in some instances, have actually asked their own members not to play their own courses so that they can charge anything up to $500 for a round of golf to an interstater so if the South Australian taxpayer could be the beneficiary of that, why wouldn’t we be?
“But that can’t be at the expense of South Australians themselves who have invested into the course.”
Bonaros said backing the bill was a “measured risk – and I truly believe it will pay off for South Australia”.
Another amendment the crossbench was able to get through was Greens MLC Robert Simms’ specification that accommodation such as hotels cannot be built on the project site, and that such accommodation cannot get a free pass for development approval.
This change to the bill does not rule out accommodation being built on adjacent park lands, according to the Greens, who were initially pushing for stronger restrictions.
The state government has never said an accommodation component would be part of the plans for the Greg Norman-designed golf course, which are yet to be revealed.
Shadow planning minister Michelle Lensink MLC said while the Opposition supported LIV Golf, it did not support the bill in its current form.
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“This bill overrides key planning, heritage, environment and consultation protections, including the Nuisance Control Act and local development laws, with no sunset clause or timeline,” Lensink said.
“These laws apply to everyone else in the community, so why does Peter Malinauskas and his Government think they are above them?”
Future editions of women’s Australian Open slated for golf course site
Following the special golf course legislation passing parliament, the state government today announced it secured three more years of hosting the women’s Australian Open in Adelaide.
This means future editions of the women’s Australian Open can be played at the redesigned golf course from 2028, the deadline for the development to host the first LIV Golf in the CBD.
LIV Golf will be hosted in Adelaide until at least 2031, with this year’s event contributing a record $81.46 million to the state’s economy, according to the state government.
Malinauskas said, along with investing in the North Adelaide Golf Course as the new host venue for these world-class sporting events, “South Australia is ready to take the women’s Australian Open to new heights”.
“Securing this championship for at least the next three years will drive global attention, deliver world-class fan and player experiences and encourage more people, especially girls and women, to enjoy a health pursuit,” Malinauskas said.
“This is a hugely exciting time for our state, which is already seeing the massive benefits of hosting major sporting events like LIV Golf Adelaide and their power to share South Australia on the global stage.”
Sport Minister Emily Bourke MLC said the agreement shows the government is “backing girls and women in sport and the growth of golf is part of our commitment to grow female participation”.
“Having this internationally renowned event return shows local talent coming through the ranks they can compete with the world’s best at home,” she said.
The next women’s Australian Open will return to Kooyonga Golf Club from March 12–15, 2026. It was last hosted at Kooyonga Golf Club in 2018.
