Date set for trial over park lands tree felling
A judge has made a call on whether a court battle over a controversial golf course development will go to trial, as donations for park lands activists rise above $50,000.
A court case brought by a public servant against the state government over tree felling for the redevelopment of the North Adelaide Golf Course will be fast-tracked to a trial in August, the Federal Court heard today.
Federal Court Judge Natalie Charlesworth today set dates for a five-day trial between public servant Edwin Kemp Attrill, Traditional owner Janette Milera and the state government.
Milera and Kemp Attrill commenced proceedings earlier this month to test the North Adelaide Golf Course Act against national environment and heritage legislation.
The Act was introduced by the Malinauskas government last year, which gave the redevelopment a green light to bypass planning laws, except for the Aboriginal Heritage Act.
Attrill and Milera’s bid to force the state government to immediately stop works on the North Adelaide site was unsuccessful. However, the case will go to trial, where they will argue that the redevelopment should have been referred to the Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt before works started.
You might like
Today’s hearing also addressed access to documents, Kemp Attrill’s lawyer saying that after his legal team reviews “those documents carefully, we might change our position to a permanent injunction”.
A permanent injunction could save the remaining 185 trees that were still marked to be removed from the golf course site, and Kemp Attrill hoped would “set a precedent”.
Both parties were in favour of speeding up the court process at the hearing today.
“We are ready to go ahead as quickly as we can, and that’s why we’re really happy to move ahead. August is very soon, very keen to go ahead with that,” Kemp Attrill said.
Stay informed, daily
The judge also said that her early view was that while there could be an order to minimise the costs taken on by Kemp Attrill, it could also restrict costs in his favour, meaning each party would bear their own costs.
“If I was to make an order that there be no order for costs against the applicants, I would seriously consider making an order that there be no order for costs in the applicant’s favour as well,” Judge Charlesworth said.
Kemp Attrill has raised about $51,500 through a GoFundMe for his legal costs at the time of writing, after previously saying he was risking bankruptcy by taking on the case.
A state government spokesperson said the government welcomed the court’s decision.
“Work is continuing uninterrupted as planned on the golf course upgrade,” the spokesperson said.
“This is an exciting project for the state, which will significantly improve the existing public golf course at North Adelaide and improve the amenity of our park lands.”
Today’s decision comes after Federal Court judge Michael Feutrill ordered the state government to give the courts, a public servant and a Traditional Owner 48 hours’ written notice if it plans to fell a tree more than 3.5 metres tall at the North Adelaide Golf Course site.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
