Watchdog reveals golf course works started before contracts complete
The state’s finance watchdog found work began at the North Adelaide Golf Course months before contracts were locked in, revealing the legal loophole used.
Trees were felled at the North Adelaide Golf Course for a redevelopment, months before a primary construction contract was signed, an Auditor-General’s report reveals.
The report, tabled in parliament yesterday, showed standard safeguards around business cases were set aside to keep the $45 million taxpayer-funded project on schedule to host LIV Golf 2028.
It said South Australia’s Premier and Cabinet Department (DPC) approved contracts between Greg Norman Designs and 13 other consultants that were valued at $55,000 each – all below the threshold where “acquisition plans and purchase recommendations” were needed, the report found.
DPC then later entered into 11 new contracts with the original consultants, that were now above the $55,000 ceiling but “did not prepare the acquisition plans and purchase recommendations that are required by its procurement policy”.
There was now a “risk that significant public sector investment decisions were made without the required analysis of costs, benefits, risks and value for money, reducing transparency and accountability and increasing the risk of inefficient use of public resources”, the report found.
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Construction work at the golf course has since sparked widespread controversy with ongoing protests over the work including rallies organised by the Adelaide Park Lands Association and eight individual protesters arrested in May for trespassing on the North Adelaide park lands.
The report raised concerns about the process saying “there is therefore less assurance that the scrutiny, documentation and challenge ordinarily applied to DPC’s procurement processes were applied to these engagements”.
“In addition, DPC did not retain sufficient evidence of its value-for-money assessments for key supplier engagements for its initial planning and design contracts and extensions (originally contracted for less than $55,000), limiting its ability to demonstrate how procurement decisions and pricing arrangements were evaluated and justified.”
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In response to the Auditor-General’s findings, DPC said in a statement that the evaluation of the golf course project was “appropriate for this project”.
The DPC statement said a cabinet submission was prepared on behalf of Premier Peter Malinauskas that “contained the necessary justification, setting out the implications of the project with respect to financial performance and the State Budget”.
“As previously advised by DPC, and evidenced in documentation provided, extensive effort has been applied to achieve value-for-money outcomes through procurement and contract strategy development and project delivery,” DPC said.
“While value-for-money assessment at project inception was limited by the conceptual nature of the project information at that point in time, the continued focus and achievement of value-for-money throughout project development has resulted in the final agreed contract sum being considerably less than the initial offers, whilst also increasing South Australian business participation and direct engagement in project delivery.”
The bombshell report was released after Treasurer Tom Koutanstonis said LIV Golf was “unlikely” to go ahead next year given the company had filed for bankruptcy in the United States.
Kooyonga Golf Course, which is set to host the 2027 LIV Golf tournament in March, filed a motion with the US Bankruptcy Court seeking confirmation by November 6 whether LIV will proceed with its agreement to hold the event.
Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said the Auditor General’s findings showed the government had “lost respect for the taxpayer dollar”.
“I think all signs are really pointing in the direction that it won’t be here next year,” Hurn said.
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