by Shane Sody
‘The Adelaide City Council has joined APA’s call to Premier, Peter Malinauskas to release the hit list of 585 trees that he says he wants to destroy in Possum Park / Pirltawardli (Park 1 of your Adelaide Park Lands).
On 28 December 2025, we called on the Premier to “release the hit list” of 585 doomed trees.
The City Council has not only picked up this simple request, but has gone further, seeking much more detail on the Premier’s scanty so-called “plan” for a multi-million dollar “re-development” of the urban-forested North Adelaide golf course in your Park Lands.
The Premier’s sketchy diagram and imagery released on 18 December 2025, was remarkable for what it failed to reveal:
This diagram that the Premier released on 18 December 2025 fails to identify any of the doomed 585 trees, nor areas to be set aside for car parking, maintenance sheds, a new clubhouse, nor storage sites for all of the temporary viewing stands that would be regularly unpacked and deployed within this urban forested Park / golf course.
At a City Council meeting on Tuesday 27 January, councillors authorised the Lord Mayor to write to the Premier seeking information that the Premier has so far not shared with the public, including:
The sites, storeys and footprints of all planned and any future buildings and associated car parks
The location and length and height of any golf course permanent fencing, and any anticipated “event”, temporary fencing
Access points for the ancillary facilities such as mini golf course, the par 3 course and the driving range and details of any associated permanent fencing
“Support zones” that would be needed during construction and subsequent events;
Identification of the 585 trees planned to be removed; and
The processes that will be put in place to ensure protection of aboriginal heritage.
From left: Councillors Keiran Snape, Janet Giles, and Phillip Martin
During debate in the Council chamber, Councillor Phillip Martin summed up the issue:
"If the Government knows precisely the number, down to the last tree, that is being removed from the current golf course, then it knows what's going to replace it, whether that's a building, a road, or indeed a fairway. And if it knows that, then there are great many ratepayers who would like to know that.”
Councillor Janet Giles added:
"there's great concern about the number of trees being cut down and I think the public has a right to know which of those trees that are currently there are going to be cut down"
And Councillor Keiran Snape added a touch of urgency:
“The motion seeks that information which has not yet been forthcoming. This is important especially considering the Government is about to go into caretaker mode ...as we imagine the incoming Government, after the election, will probably move on this development quite fast.”
Big job for new Minister
Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing Rhiannon Pearce, MP. Pic: premier.sa.gov.au Creative Commons licence
Meantime, the Premier has handed responsibility for the massive Park Lands golf course "re-development" to one of his most junior ministers.
Rhiannon Pearce, the member for King on Adelaide's north-east, has been a Minister only since September 2025 but has nevertheless been named as the "designated Minister" to make all planning decisions for the controversial North Adelaide Golf Course "re-development".
See a summary of the new Minister’s wide powers here: “Hostile takeover” (29 June 2025)
On her State Government webpage, Minister Pearce is described as “fighting for what’s important to her community”. The page goes on: “Rhiannon knows that a good representative is one that listens to and understands their community, and she will work hard to deliver what’s in their best interests.”
APA has congratulated Minister Pearce on her appointment and asked her to undertake the “extensive consultation” that the Premier promised 10 months ago. (PDF, 1 page, 153 Kb)
APA’s Acting President Ben Ayris has asked Minister Pearce to:
“identify, publicly, (and as soon as possible, before the State election) each and every tree which (to take the Premier at his word) must already have been earmarked as being identified for destruction, along with what is proposed to replace each one of them.”
You can make a similar request to the Minister, at this email address: Minister.Pearce@sa.gov.au
Come and see for yourself
Our Guided Walks, titled “It’s Not Just a golf course” are being offered at 5.45pm on multiple dates up until mid-March. Choose a date to come along. Book here:
https://events.humanitix.com/host/adel_park_lands
This two-and-a-half minute video, below, highlights “What You Stand to Lose”:
And after the election?
Author and journalist John Bridgland opines that after the election, a re-elected Malinauskas Labor Government seems likely to pursue takeover of the entire Adelaide Park Lands, to facilitate even more commercial development. It might be only speculation, but John Bridgland says the clues are "hiding in plain sight".
