Vigil for 585 trees facing the chop as $45m golf course work starts
Demonstrators are gathering today to mark hundreds of trees being chopped down as work on a new-look North Adelaide Golf Course begins. The Premier makes assurances.
The $45 million North Adelaide Golf Course redevelopment is set to commence initial works from today, with Premier Peter Malinauskas saying initial works would “become apparent over coming days” and trees would be cleared in the coming weeks.
Adelaide Park Lands Association president Mat Monti said their organisation would be holding a vigil for the 585 mature age trees that are marked for removal in Possum Park / Pirltawardli (Park 1).
The “Stop the Chop” vigil is being held at 12:30pm at Montefiore Hill, with organisers urging protestors to bring signs, toy axes or a toy chainsaw to show the government they would “fight any future plans to destroy the Park Lands”.
“It is an extremely sad day for the park lands to know that almost 600 trees are now marked for death in Possum Park,” Monti said.
“We’re going to be consulting with our members and supporters on what actions they are willing to take and wanting to see us take as an association.
“Obviously, we will be doing more protests and activism to draw attention to the redevelopment and the issues we see, but what that ultimately looks like will be dictated by our members.”
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Monti said protestors would “seriously consider” strapping themselves to trees in the coming weeks to prevent their removal but remained wary of the punishment.
“We’re actually really worried that any sort of action taken to protect these trees in Possum Park could see the state government come down with the harshest possible penalties,” Monti said.
“When the people are outraged, they need to be able to express that outrage in the form of protest, safely and responsibly.”
Greens leader Robert Simms has also called on the state government to dump its redevelopment plans and invest the money in cost-of-living measures.
“As South Australians continue to struggle with the rising cost of living, many will be asking why this is a priority for their government,” Simms said.
“Surely the $45 million dollars could be better spent. Do we really need a lavish golf course while so many in our community are struggling to afford the basics?
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“The government should scrap the project and use the savings to provide relief during this fuel crisis – free public transport and better cycling infrastructure.”
The Premier today addressed the concerns raised by the Adelaide Park Lands Association and assured that the trees would be replaced.
“I think for every tree that gets cut down, more than at least three will be planted in their name. The golf course requires trees,” Malinauskas said.
“We’ve been very transparent about our plans all the way through. We took our policy to an election and now we’ve got a responsibility to honour those commitments that we’ve made to the people of our state.
“We want more people using our park lands not less which means we’re going to invest in community infrastructure whether it be aquatic centres or golf courses.”
Earlier this month Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was on the verge of cutting its support for the LIV Golf League, following hundreds of millions of dollars in financial losses.
LIV Golf is scheduled to be held at North Adelaide Golf Course from 2028, with Malinauskas saying the state government had been “given assurances” from LIV, and that the redevelopment would still go ahead.
“LIV Golf has provided us all the reassurances that you’d expect and that they very much intend to be back in Adelaide next year and beyond,” Malinauskas said.
“First and foremost, it is an investment ultimately in a public course for public use. Our ambition to be able to use it as a championship course for a golf tournament extend beyond LIV.”
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