Four golf course trees have come down, court hears
A judge has heard the public servant suing the government over golf course plans was short on resources, as trees have come down in wild weather.
The legal team for a public servant suing the government over golf course plans has asked the court for more time to prepare for a fast-approaching trial.
Today, a federal court judge did not reschedule the trial slated for August, but told the lawyer for Edwin Kemp Attrill that he may apply for a delay if he believes there could be “anticipated prejudice”.
It comes after both parties were in favour of fast-tracking the trial last week, Kemp Attrill saying then it was “incredible progress”.
Kemp Attrill’s lawyer argued “there are few of us and lots of them”, in reference to the state government’s legal team when foreshadowing a delay, citing resource constraints.
Kemp Attrill and traditional owner Janette Milera 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.
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Kemp Attrill has raised about $52,000 through a GoFundMe for his legal costs at the time of writing, after previously saying he was risking bankruptcy by taking on the case. His lawyers are acting pro bono.
Today’s case management hearing ahead of the August trial also included debate on access to government documents and managing trees in wet weather.
It comes after four trees were removed on Wednesday afternoon from the golf course site because they had fallen over in the wind.
Deputy Premier Kyam Maher told reporters after today’s hearing that it was “quite sensible” that the court allowed for these trees to be removed.
“If trees fall over, cause safety concerns on power lines or cross roads, or cause other safety concerns to people, it just makes sense that they’re able to be removed,” Maher said.
Maher said no trees were removed unless it was for public safety reasons.
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Kemp Attrill said today three of the four trees he was aware of had been removed in “very understandable circumstances” but one “we have serious questions about”.
The government must give two business days’ notice to Kemp Attrill and the court if it wishes to remove a tree that is beyond 3.5 metres tall; Kemp Attrill’s lawyer unsuccessfully asked for this notice period to be extended to five days.
Kemp Attrill said his main takeaway from today’s hearing was that documents discovered for the sake of the court case should be publicly available.
“We think those files should be made public, and that’s, for us, what’s really important,” he said.
Maher today said the government would “protect their interests” if there were requests for documents that were commercially confidential, such as the deal between the state government and the formerly Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
“There will be things that put us at a competitive disadvantage if they’re revealed,” Maher said.
Maher could not be drawn on whether the government would attempt to suppress other documents as the case progressed.
“I will reiterate that the government will abide, as we always do, by court orders and court processes, but we, as we always do, reserve our right to protect the interests of government and South Australians,” he said.
The government said no further trees were planned for removal in the coming weeks, but works on the site were continuing.
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