3 June, 2026
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (17:55): I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
I rise to speak on the Heritage Places (Adelaide Park Lands) Amendment Bill on behalf of the Greens. To members who have been in this chamber for some time, this is not a new bill. Indeed, I introduced it to the parliament for the first time in the dying days of the then Marshall government and I reintroduced it in the last parliament under the first term of the Malinauskas government.
One of the things that has changed, though, is the position of the Labor Party, because when they were in opposition they supported this bill. Indeed, in early 2022 when it was brought to a vote, they supported it. We had all sides of politics coming together to finally add the Adelaide Parklands to the state Heritage Register. I thought, 'Wow, finally we've got the numbers to get this through because the Labor Party wouldn't be so shameless as to vote for one thing in February and then do something entirely different when they formed government in March.' I thought, 'They can't be that craven and opportunistic.'
I was wrong. There are no bounds to their opportunism. When they then found themselves in government, and I reintroduced this bill and brought it to a vote, what did they do? Having talked about Parklands protection during that election campaign and skewered the Marshall government for their appalling record on the Parklands or their proposals to build skyscrapers on the River Torrens—the irony of that is not lost on me, given the position of the Malinauskas government—they changed their position. The bill passed this chamber and it languished in the other place waiting for the Labor Party to make it a priority, but they failed to do so during the last term of government.
I have now decided to bring it forward again. I feel the time is right for this reform. There has been a huge amount of community outrage about the attack on the Adelaide Parklands to facilitate the North Adelaide Golf Course redevelopment. There has been a huge amount of public outrage about the destruction of nearly 600 trees to facilitate that Labor vanity project. I think a lot of people in the community are asking what protection we can provide to the Adelaide Parklands, so I am reintroducing this bill to give the new Labor government an opportunity to make amends, revert back to the position that they adopted when they were in opposition and support this simple reform that would provide additional protection to our world-unique Adelaide Parklands.
In terms of reflecting on what this bill does, it simply adds the Adelaide Parklands and the City Plan to the state heritage list. That recognition would provide a really important role in terms of protecting the Adelaide Parklands for future generations. The Parklands have at the moment national listing and there has been a strong campaign, spearheaded by the Adelaide City Council, to see the Adelaide Parklands added to the World Heritage List. It is very difficult to mount the case for that, though, if the Parklands do not have both state and federal listing. This bill would plug that gap.
I implore the Labor government to come on board with this, to adopt the position they adopted when they were in opposition and to work with the Greens—and I hope the Liberal opposition will remain consistent in their support of this bill. Let us all work together to finally get this through in this term of parliament.