Dispute looms over protesters pitching tents in park lands
A high-profile ‘ragtag extremist’ protester setting up camp in the park lands has vowed to “lie down in front of bulldozers” to protect trees.
Protesters have pitched tents in the eastern park lands olive grove as they step up their fight against the “destruction” of the Adelaide park lands for the MotoGP.
The group – connected to an ongoing protest movement against park lands tree felling – calls itself the ‘Gum Leaf Guild’ and includes former Adelaide Citizen of the Year Mij Tanith who was dubbed a “ragtag extremist” by Premier Peter Malinauskas.
She is living at the encampment with two other protesters in Pakapakanthi/Park 16 in the heart of the olive grove that dates back to the late 1800s, the site where a leaked but unverified map claimed a new MotoGP track would be built.
Tanith is the self-described “granny” who protested against the controversial North Adelaide Golf Course development earlier this year and was arrested for being unlawfully on premises.
She pleaded guilty to those charges but was let off without conviction in early July.
Speaking to InDaily at the camp site, Tanith said the small encampment was “just the beginning” and she intended to be there for the long haul.
“We’re just gathering the numbers and tonight there will be plenty of people,” she claimed.
“This is a movement that is building and we are fairly confident that by the time the fences go up, or the chainsaws and the big machinery come in, we will have enough people to stop the action with non-violent civil disobedience.”
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Tanith said she would go so far as “lying down in front of the bulldozers, which I’m still prepared to do”.
The site is decked out with tents, a temporary toilet, a sink, water, security cameras and other facilities.
Tanith said she was already blown away by community support, including from nearby residents who offered to clean dishes for the group and from other volunteers bringing over supplies, food and water.
But the encampment may face opposition from the Adelaide City Council park lands rangers, with Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith telling InDaily: “We will not support that activity”.
“We try to treat homeless people with respect, but we do not allow camping, fires or desecration of the park lands,” she said.
“I think it will be better if the complaints were made through the proper procedures, but I can understand that emotions are getting high.
“I don’t think that it’s appropriate that we have people camping in the park lands, and I think that there are rules against it, so we will not support that activity.”
A state government spokesperson said policing illegal camping on the park lands was an Adelaide City Council responsibility.
“We note that council has previously described proposals for camping on the park lands as a “completely inappropriate” activity that “sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the integrity of our natural Park Lands”,” he said, referring to a 2023 council condemnation of plans to turn a part of park lands into a mobile home camping ground for the Adelaide 500.
Fears over govt park lands takeover
The news comes after InDaily columnist Mike Smithson yesterday revealed there was a “secret” government plan to strip the Adelaide City Council of control over the park lands.
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Lomax-Smith told InDaily she had not yet received any assurances from SA Premier Peter Malinauskas that legislative changes to change control of the park lands were or were not incoming.
“In the absence of any genuine information and consultation not occurring yet… the landscape is rife for rumours, innuendo and assumptions,” she said.
“We do know that when there were delays around the golf course, and the council had done everything conceivably possible to share information… we waited for around six months to get final information – a brief – then legislation was brought into Parliament,” she said, referring to legislative changes that gave the state government control of the North Adelaide Golf Course so it could push on with its redevelopment of the asset.
“So the delay and the innuendo does trigger memories of recent past.”
She also rejected assertions the council was unable to maintain the park lands.
“There’s never been any suggestion that we honestly have unkempt, unloved areas of park lands,” she said.
“That presupposes that our park lands have to look like a 19th-century manicured horticultural showpiece with straight lines and trimmed verges and lines of coloured flowers from Europe.”
She added that the MotoGP would potentially irreversibly change the park lands.
“It will really be a final change that we will never be able to pull back from, and the argument that we are economic vandals by even suggesting that this might be an appropriate event is nonsense,” she said.
“The issue here is whether the gain is worth the pain because there will be significant pain, disruption and an irrevocable change in how we see our park lands.”
Asked about the rumours this morning, Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said “we don’t need to take them over to do things in the park lands”.
“Council came to us about their aquatic centre. They were losing a million dollars a year and they wanted it refurbished or built again. So we did that. Then they complained about us building on the park lands,” he said on ABC Radio.
“They had a plan to redevelop a golf course that they owned and run, which was losing money. So we did that, and they complained about that.
“We bring people into the CBD through these major events, through the Adelaide 500, they complained about that. Now we’re bringing in a event of global significance, and they complain about that.”
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