Activist warned North Adelaide golf course court action could cost millions
A public servant is being warned by the Crown Solicitor that court action disrupting the controversial golf course redevelopment could cost millions, but he has vowed not to be “intimidated” by the state government.
South Australia’s Crown Solicitor has sent a letter to the public servant taking the Department of Premier and Cabinet to court, warning him that any delayed works to the controversial North Adelaide golf course site could cost taxpayers between $3 million and $4 million.
This figure, the letter said, did not factor in further legal or witness costs.
But the public servant at the centre of the action Edwin Kemp Attrill described his action as a “David and Goliath battle” and vowed to continue to file legal proceedings despite risking being forced to pay millions of dollars in costs and damages if he lost the case.
In a letter to Attrill’s legal representation Nathan White Lawyers, the state government’s legal adviser the Crown Solicitor said Kemp Attrill’s own estimate of legal costs of around $100,000 was an underestimation.
The Crown Solicitor wrote that any court order restraining works could cost about $40,000 a day from contractor delays, maintenance or “demobilisation and remobilisation” expenses.
“Those costs do not include legal or expert witness costs that may be incurred in defending any application brought by your client which could be substantial,” the letter, seen by InDaily, said.
Kemp Attrill said today he would “not be intimidated” by the letter, which he felt was “seeking to bully me into submission”.
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“We may be in a David and Goliath battle, but I will not back down even if it sends me bankrupt and I lose my house,” Kemp Attrill said.
A GoFundMe established to support Kemp Attrill’s legal costs has so far raised $31,400.
A government spokesperson said, “the Government did not initiate this action and is responding with appropriate disclosure of the cost taxpayers would bear in halting this project.
“As South Australians would expect, the Government will always seek to protect the taxpayers’ interests.”
Kemp Attrill and Kaurna Traditional Owner Janette Milera announced this week they would apply for a federal court injunction to test the $45 million golf course redevelopment against the national Environment, Protection and Biodiversity Act (EPBC).
The two said they were taking the action because “no one is above the law”.
Their lawyer wrote to the Department of Premier and Cabinet on June 1 outlining their intention and requesting the government halt works and refer the golf course plans to Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt.
The Crown Solicitor said the state would defend court proceedings if Kemp Attrill filed, and that the government “has a responsibility to taxpayers to protect its position in any proceedings”.
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“The State of South Australia acknowledges the rights of Mr Attrill to state his views and respect his rights to pursue this matter further should he choose to do so,” the letter said.
The letter also addressed Kemp Attrill’s concerns regarding the golf course’s compliance with the EPBC Act and tree removal.
“The state does not accept that the project is likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance, or that referral under the EPBC Act is required,” the letter said.
Under the EPBC Act, there is the option to undertake a “self-assessment,” which the state government said it did, factoring in the national heritage status of the Adelaide Park Lands and Grey-headed Flying Foxes – a threatened species in the area.
It said it found the project would not “result in loss, degradation or notable modification of the National Heritage values of the Park Lands” and impacts on the Grey-headed Flying Foxes were “not significant” because there were no roosting camps in the area, and there were alternative habitats in the city park lands.
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.
Kemp Attrill maintains that he “did not accept” that any state-based assessment, approval, consultation process or authorisation answered the separate issues of national heritage or environmental risk.
The Adelaide Park Lands Association planned to hold a rally at 12pm on Saturday in Possum Park/Pirlawardli to continue fighting the golf course redevelopment plans.
Kemp Attrill is a member of the Park Lands Association, but is undertaking the lawsuit privately, alongside Kaurna common law holder Janette Milera.
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