Responding to Legal ‘gaps’ exposed in park lands judgment

Adelaide’s anti-development default setting has held back this state for decades and needs to change.

I moved here over 40 years ago and watched the vacant North Adelaide Le Cornu site sit empty for many of those years.

There should still be a multi-purpose facility in Victoria Park, including what would now be a unique world-class racecourse.

To the Chop the Stop zealots, I say turn your heads east to the hills, and you will see countless trees as far as the eye can see, and, as the judge points out, there will still be 70,000 trees remaining.

Time to think bigger, Adelaide … finally. – Gavan Fox

Responding to Govt seeks MotoGP economic benefit report, months after securing event

And how much is this going to cost SA taxpayers on top of all other expenditure? Please be specific and accurate. Why was this report not done before accepting the deal? Premier, you will go down in history for all the wrong reasons. – Jan Antony

As one of thousands of Adelaide petitioners who was pleased when the SA state government responded to our signatures, through the advocacy of our local Dunstan MP Cressida O’Hanlon, by promising a safe pedestrian crossing on Hackney Road, we know that work has been 30 per cent completed, which is pleasing.

We wonder now if the delay on completion dates is caused by extra demands on workers in the departments of infrastructure and transport as well as environment and water. They must be stressed by new MotoGP needs.

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SA the nation’s oldest state but riddled with prejudice

As for the park lands, it is hard to believe that it took a motorbike race for the “Nature Positive Package” to be invented and tied to a normal environmental maintenance upgrade of $15 million. The funds are for more places than Victoria Park, as the plan spans the River Torrens, Botanic Park and stormwater projects across the city. We welcome this long-overdue environmental maintenance, even though it is promoted as an “offset” package to justify clearing 377 trees (including 42 significant trees) for a circuit expansion.

Some of us dreamers are still hoping for negotiation by the persuasive Premier with Liberty Media (and perhaps Sam Shahin) to cancel the desired inaugural city circuit, and to invest in Tailem Bend as a world-class motorsport venue, with free bus and helicopter services from Adelaide to the races. A miracle which would develop rural communities and assist decentralisation, and prevent traffic chaos and tree destruction. – Julanne Sweeney

Responding to ‘Nowhere to go’: Rough sleepers removed as golf course work restarts

Reading this brings to mind time just spent in one of our public hospitals, where it was so obvious how there is a shortage of funding. Nurses doing double shifts, people waiting days for their surgery in a short-stay ward, general maintenance issues. I would rather see this fixed than a new golf course for rich people or a MotoGP. I am not against events, but they have to fit into our city, not ruin it. Priorities have to be made. The homeless people need to have a place to go. Fix the city, then have parties. – Sue Pleass

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SA the nation’s oldest state but riddled with prejudice

The hypocrisy and heartlessness of our government in this matter is breathtakingly clear. It can find $45 million for quite unnecessary upgrades to a golf course but cannot provide accommodation for the city’s homeless. Our Labor MPs should hang their heads in shame. – Donella Peters

Responding to ‘Deceptive’: Inquiry hears barrage of SA renter complaints

There is a ballooning need for resources and compliance within the whole real estate industry.

We face escalating homelessness, increasing climate impacts, shonky builders and increasingly more ‘working poor’ who will need a dam site more than golf, MotoGP and a grinning premier.

In the face of more battlers going under, this Labor government has displayed nothing but disgrace and contempt for genuine public need. – Richard Webb

Responding to State Govt’s record ad spend: Its priciest ads, ranked

As a regional news publisher, I would be delighted to see the state government spending so much on advertising if my publication received a cent of it.

Despite the enormous sums being spent by government departments, virtually none of it goes to the online publications which inform, educate and entertain residents of Murray Bridge, the Fleurieu, the South East and other parts of our state. Unfortunately, our government seems to believe that regional South Australians only read printed newspapers – after all, both Labor and Liberal guaranteed a weekly advertising spend in all of SA’s regional papers prior to this year’s election.

Meanwhile, our efforts to secure an equivalent guarantee have proven utterly fruitless. One hopes the government will eventually get with the times. We do have the internet out here, you know. – Peri Strathearn, Editor of Murray Bridge News

Responding to Adelaide house prices join national freefall

House prices in Australia have been overvalued for longer than most remember. It goes as far back as the Howard years, when governments of all inclinations started throwing money into home buyer schemes.

The banks no longer send valuers out to consider if a house is under- or overvalued. They rely on the real estate industry to give values. But the real estate industry is self-serving due to the fact that they are commission-driven. This also relates to the cost of rentals.

Go back to the 70s when you needed an 80 per cent deposit to get a home loan at between 12 and 17 per cent interest rate. People in those days would take out bridging loans at around 21 per cent just to get into the housing market. Australia has had too many handouts for way too long, which is why the market is so overvalued. – Paul (surname withheld)

Responding to BREAKING: New SA Governor revealed

Congratulations to Grant Stevens on being appointed our new Governor. Very well deserved, and I’m sure he will do a wonderful job in his new role. – Pamela French

Only good decision Malinauskas has made this year. Excellent, worthy choice. – Robbyn Hutton

Responding to Liberal heavyweight tapped for key blue-ribbon seat

It would be a mistake for the Liberals to reboot Vincent Tarzia to stand in the seat of Sturt, when he failed abysmally as Liberal Opposition Leader for a number of reasons, which do not deserve revisiting, rehashing and recycling. Once was enough. – Mary-Anne Higgins

Responding to Greens’ public supermarket plan just won’t work

What a complete joke, and a waste of column inches even considering it.

The Greens could not run a bath, let alone a business. Our major supermarkets are not amateurs – they know their trade, operate on fair margins, put up with all the red tape and scourge of unionism, and the Greens think they can do better?

Try it without the benefit of a government bail-out, and it wouldn’t last a month. – Colin Gaetjens

Responding to ‘Won’t stand quietly’: Govt ups fight for River Murray

Here is a thought. How about you stop denuding the landscape of native flora/habitat to put in crops, e.g., to sell overseas, using the Mighty Murray’s water. Who is benefiting from this?

Certainly not the Murray and certainly not the average South Australian. On top of that, we have a Premier who thinks that lining the SA coastline with desalination plants is the answer. One would have to think that, as Malinauskas is so eager to make money for the state, he would be front and centre giving speeches on this issue. Oh dear.

Also, where did the 50 gigalitres and all that money go to when Spiers was the environment minister? – Tanya (surname withheld)

Responding to Disgraced Swans star receives surprise top honour

No surprise about it. Heeney was far and away Sydney’s best (and fairest) player in 2026. What he’s alleged to have done off the field had nothing to do with it. – Phil Stafford

 What surprise? It was the third time he won the award and had another good season on the field. The only difference was the title of the best and fairest. He deserved it. – Darrel Simmons