Councillor fears future govt park lands grabs
Councillors can’t agree on how best to ask the state government to do more to fund an Aboriginal support service on the park lands, with one noting the recent history of park lands being taken from council as a reason not to push too hard.
The Adelaide City Council last night rejected a bid to add conditions to the extension of the state government’s license to run the Safer Place to Gather in Edwards Park.
This comes after a committee meeting last week when councillors heard the Department was under-resourced and had no plan yet for a long-term solution for the Aboriginal support service.
The council would have extended the temporary license either way, but councillor Keiran Snape – who is running as an independent for Adelaide in the March election – unsuccessfully tried to tweak the wording to include a mandatory meeting requirement and a funding plea.
But Councillor Arman Abrahimzadeh said he was “afraid of the changes” because the state government’s Department of Human Services came to the council “in good faith” and giving them harder deadlines “may have consequences”.
“We don’t have to look very far at what happened at other parts of the park lands,” Abrahimzadeh said.
You might like
“They could come to us and they might say, ‘if you are going to play games, bugger you and bugger your license, we’re taking the parts of the park lands that we need away from you in order to do what we need to do to tackle this social issue’.”
This – along with Adelaide Aquatic Centre, the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide Aquatic Centre and a Botanic High expansion – puts the total hectares of park lands transferred to the Malinauskas Government at 96.04.
It’s the largest park lands grab – transferring care, control and management to a state government – since 1837, according to documents published by the Adelaide City Council.
Stay informed, daily
In Edwards Park, the council grants the government a license to run the Safer Place to Gather – a campsite that works with cultural advisors, social workers and SAPOL to support people travelling to Adelaide from remote communities, including connecting them with health services or returning to country where it’s safe to do so.
The Safer Place to Gather was always supposed to be a temporary service, and the Department of Human Services were hopeful to receive further funding for it this year, but last week told the council this was “too optimistic”.
Deputy Lord Mayor Phillip Martin said the reason for there being no long-term plan is because the Department has said it can’t make a funding proposal until it knows what future model could work.
“There’s a working party that’s been established by the Department for the purpose of consulting, liaising with First Nations groups about what kind of facility would replace that at Edwards Park,” Martin said.
Councillor Mary Couros agreed that it was a “complex issue” and “holding a knife to their throat” is not an appropriate way to work with the government on finding a solution.
The push to advocate harder for budget allocation to the Safer Place to Gather was lost, with only councillors Snape, Janet Giles and Henry Davis voting in favour of it.
The council will still extend the license for Edwards Park, request a meeting for a long-term solution and have the Lord Mayor write to the Human Services Minister on the issue, but will not advocate for further state government funding.
