Revealed: Mystery public servant taking govt to court over park lands
A public servant is risking bankruptcy to challenge the Premier’s golf course plans. Find out who’s suing SA’s top government department.
Edwin Kemp Attrill is suing South Australia’s Department of Premier and Cabinet in federal court over the controversial North Adelaide golf course development, InDaily can reveal today.
Attrill, 36, is an employee of the Department of Human Services, a state government department where he has worked for about a year in a diversity, equity and inclusion role.
He told InDaily that he was not an environmental activist, but was committed to taking legal action in his private capacity as “an issue of public interest”.
Attrill, a Brompton resident, said he was taking the battle to court because “no one is above the law, even the Premier”.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said his government “followed due process” with national law, and that the action was “a desire for martyrdom”.
Attrill is expected to file an injunction in the federal court this Wednesday, which would call on Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt to test the $45 million taxpayer-funded golf course redevelopment against federal environment and heritage law protections.
The move could bankrupt Attrill and risk his house, his lawyer Ted Hui said, as he could be liable to pay the government’s legal fees if he loses the case.
“While my client faces significant risk, he’s committed to doing it for the wider community, and for future generations,” Hui, from Nathan White Lawyers in Toorak Gardens, said.
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“Court scrutiny is needed to determine if the actions of the South Australian government have been consistent with [the] Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
“This action will require the government to answer this question properly in court.”
The Department of Premier and Cabinet website says the impact of the golf course works was assessed against the EPBC Act and found “the project will not result in a real chance or possibility of significant impacts to matters of national environmental significance”.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said on Monday morning he believed his government would be on the right side of the legal action “because we followed all the due process”.
“I have no doubt that there is a desire for martyrdom here, but we’re not going to do that,” Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide.
“I’ve never been, and I don’t aspire to be a leader that punches down.
“We’ve got over 100,000 public servants in this state, and they’re all entitled to their views, and if he thinks you’ve got some legal rights that are available for him to pursue, then that’s his prerogative.
“But the state will protect its position, as I think we’ve got a responsibility to taxpayers, to do.”
When asked about the risk to his job in the public service, Attrill said he had consulted his union for advice and believed his employment would be protected under Fair Work laws.
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However, his friends and family intended to establish a GoFundMe “as a defence fund”.
“I’ve been told this could bankrupt me, but I feel strongly that someone has to do what’s right,” Attrill said.
“Our park lands belong to the public and they are protected by law for a reason.
“My legal action will call on the government to abide by the law and protect the environment and heritage, because our public parks need to be protected from further destruction.”
When asked if he was a member of a political party, Attrill declined to comment.
It comes as a petition to protect Possum Park has amassed about 49,700 signatures from those opposed to the park lands development that has led to the removal of 585 trees.
The Adelaide City Council and the SA Greens have previously called for a federal probe, Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith writing to Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt requesting an assessment of the proposed development under the EPBC Act.
The court action comes almost a year after the state government enacted legislation to wrestle the North Adelaide park lands area from council control so it could be more easily upgraded in time for LIV Golf 2028.
Unlike other developments across the state that require planning approval to remove significant trees – trees with a trunk of two metres or more – the golf course upgrade has been exempt under the new North Adelaide Golf Course Act.
The act also granted planning and building consent to the project before the plans had been released, drawing criticism from the Liberals, the Greens and park lands activists.
Attrill said he “had no idea about the extent of the destruction” linked to the development until trees were felled in May.
“There was no consultation. I was walking to work and I could hear the sound of chainsaws, and looking over the fence I could see incredibly large, significant trees, some of which must have been 100 years old or more, being destroyed,” he said.
The only consultation run publicly about the golf course redevelopment was with First Nations people, a requirement of the Aboriginal Heritage Act.
The government confirmed in December that 585 trees would be removed, Premier Peter Malinauskas saying this was the equivalent of six per cent of the trees on site. However, no data showing which trees or species were being felled has been released despite requests from those opposing the development.
The state government has stood by the plans, with Malinauskas saying three trees would be planted for every mature-aged tree that was felled in the Possum Park area, also confirming all the trees marked for removal had now been felled.
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