12 November, 2025
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (21:17): I thank honourable members for their contributions: the Hon. Michelle Lensink, the Hon. Tammy Franks and the Hon. Justin Hanson. I feel for the Hon. Justin Hanson being asked to deliver that nonsense, but I am pleased for him that at least he has been able to take the pressure off the Hon. Tung Ngo, who is usually dispatched to kill off my motions in his usual style. But tonight the task has fallen to the Hon. Justin Hanson to mount the nonsensical argument that somehow a giant office tower is going to be key civic space.
The honourable member paints the picture of these incredible civic spaces around the world and somehow our Festival Plaza will sit among them with a giant office tower. It is an absolute joke. I do not understand the position of the Liberal opposition on this. This is one of those instances where they could have taken a firm position in the parliament today. When the Liberal Party were in government, they negotiated a three-storey tower. I think a three-storey proposition would have been far more desirable than a 38-storey monstrosity that is going to entirely blot out the sun and dominate the public space.
No-one in the Labor government has been able to explain to me how their proposition is in any way better. The minister says to me, and has said publicly, that this is going to be a key civic space for Adelaide. Well, we already have a high vacancy rate of existing office towers in the CBD. Why on earth are we building yet another one, and why are we doing it on what is, in effect, prime public land?
This is a great deal for the Walker Corporation and it is a dud deal for everybody else. As the Hon. Tammy Franks noted, and I thank her for her support of the motion, a number of prominent South Australians have come out in support of the campaign against this second Walker Tower monstrosity, chief among them former Labor Premier Lynn Arnold. Sadly, though, the Labor government are turning their noses up at those prominent South Australians and saying the extent of their imagination for this public space is another office tower.
I think tower No. 1 is a monstrosity and I think tower No. 2 is to quote the Hon. Frank Pangallo, I think he referenced it once before as being something out of Legoland. I have mentioned before in the media that I think it is going to look like Gotham City. This is not the kind of vision that we want for Adelaide, but it is the extent of the vision of the Malinauskas government. Shame on Labor and the Liberals for being too jelly-backed to support this motion and to send a clear message.
The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink interjecting:
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: The Hon. Michelle Lensink says that we are not able to change the rules; however, under this term of parliament, the Labor government has bowed to community pressure with respect to the Crown and Anchor. The Greens were the chief agitators in that campaign. I urge them to think again when it comes to this key civic space. Surely we can do better for our state. It is my plan to call a division on this matter so that the position of members of this chamber can be put on the public record.