‘Deeply insulted: Poh fires up as first park lands trees chainsawed
Hollywood star Dev Patel has signed an open letter as about 20 police officers held back Adelaide park lands protesters trying to stop the first trees being felled for the MotoGP this morning. See the protest footage.
Protesters and police were out in force as workers arrived at the eastern Adelaide Park Lands around 6am this morning to start feeling the first trees for the $96 million MotoGP track build.
Four trees were felled within an hour in Victoria Park/Pakapakanthi and Rymill Park/Murlawirrapurka, with footage showing workers – including one truck driver wearing a mask – with chainsaws and mulchers, and groups of protesters yelling “stop the chop”.
The trees were the first of 377 marked for destruction so the state government can get water works linked to the project started under a tight timeline to have Adelaide’s new city street motorcycle circuit ready for the race twelve months from this week.
One video shared to Facebook showed groups of police at the site, ushering protesters out of the way of trucks.
A driver wearing a mask to cover his face was yelled at with one protester asking why he was covering his face, others shouting “shame”, others rattling fences while others lined the area holding placards that read “stop the chop” and “trees not tracks”.
Footage showed workers in cherry pickers felling tree branches with chainsaws and branches going into a mulcher.
Meanwhile, local culinary icon Poh Ling Yeow fronted cameras for the first time this morning after signing an open letter on Wednesday that now has almost 5000 signatories including Hollywood star Dev Patel and global pop super star and former SA resident Sia Furler who has 11 million followers on Facebook and 8.2 million on Instagram, Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, singer Ruel, foodie Matt Preston, Paul Kelly and comedian Magda Szubanski.
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“We must save these beautiful trees and all the beating hearts that reside within them. We will all be richer for it,” Patel said.
Poh was joined by local folk singer Naomi Keyte, musician Nancy Bates and David Klingberg, president of the South East Residents Association (SECRA), which is suing the state government in an attempt to halt the MotoGP project.
“You’re not going to get smiley-Poh today, that’s for sure,” said Poh, also a judge on national cooking reality television show MasterChef.
“If this goes ahead, this will be one of the greatest environmental tragedies. It’s crazy to think that taxpayers’ money is being spent to remove the trees.”
Asked if she had a message to Premier Peter Malinauskas, Poh said: “There’s so much to say, it’s probably not appropriate to tell you”.
“We cannot be going backwards, taking away green spaces: it’s just not an option,” she said.
“The fact that they’ve gone with the path of least resistance is inexcusable.”
Malinauskas said on Thursday that he was “not concerned” about the open letter.
“I’m not concerned about it, unless, of course, they haven’t taken the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the full picture,” Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide.
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Poh said she was “so deeply insulted” by the Premier’s comments.
“You don’t get to denigrate one group of people that care about something. It’s terrible,” she said.
“That’s not a democracy. I don’t appreciate it as a taxpayer at all, and I contribute a lot to this state.”
Adelaide Park Lands Association President Mat Monti, Edwin Kemp Attrill, who recently lost his court bid over the North Adelaide Golf Course Plans, and Adelaide City Councillor Patrick Maher all attended.
Maher shared a video to social media on Thursday night telling people planning to attend to “keep it real”.
“If you are going to observe, take your videos, protest, please keep it real,” Maher said.
“We don’t want to end up in the newspaper for the wrong things, please.”
It comes after eight were arrested and removed from the North Adelaide Golf Course site in May.
SA Police were also investigating a suspicious fire at the controversial park lands golf site in May after a temporary structure was gutted.
There is no suggestion that protesters were responsible for the fire.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said yesterday that “there’s a range of investments and activities that we’re making within the parklands proper”, including a $15 million Nature Positive Package to deliver environmental projects including butterfly habitat restoration in the park lands and revitalising the River Torrens.
When the MotoGP plans were revealed in August, the state government committed to planting 10 new trees for every one removed for the MotoGP circuit.
“When I think about a couple of years from now, and those works are complete, I think we’ll look back on this and wonder what all the noise is about, just as in the case when the same people were protesting against Adelaide Oval,” Malinauskas said.
It comes ahead of another court battle for the state government over its MotoGP plans.
South East City Residents Association has launched a legal bid against the state government, arguing the Motorsport Board Act does not entitle the government to cut down trees in the park lands.
“That’s our position and we’re confident in our case,” SECRA president David Klingberg said this morning.
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