by Shane Sody
Premier Peter Malinauskas has come up with a new excuse to try to justify what he says would be 585 trees to be destroyed in your urban-forested golf course Park, i.e. Possum Park / Pirltawardli (Park 1 of your Adelaide Park Lands).
Rather than LIV Golf (now apparently in a death spiral after the withdrawal of Saudi backing) the Premier has come up with a new drawcard on which he is relying to justify his imminent destruction of biodiversity and new fencing to keep you out of this part of your Park Lands, for prolonged periods.
The Premier admits taxpayers will be stung (an undisclosed sum) to attract both the men’s and women’s Australian Open Championships to your Park Lands, once this area has been “re-developed” with more buildings, and fewer trees to get in the way of elite golfers and their fans.
Losing trees and other biodiversity, large new buildings, new car parks, months each year erecting “temporary” stands and fences; all this, and more is coming under the Premier’s plan to turn Possum Park / Pirltawardli (Park 1 of your Adelaide Park Lands) into a profit-generator.
Even though most of this urban-forested golf course Park has now been fenced off, to prevent your access, the Premier is still refusing to identify the trees he says must be axed, nor when the devastation would begin.
Nevertheless, award-winning photographer Yuri Poetzel has been investigating, looking behind the fences erected to keep you out of the Park.
Yuri has advised us that it's "quite evident now which trees they're planning to raze. The ones without bunting.”
"From what I've read and seen in photos and pictures, the vegetation closer to Strangways Terrace is older and the pines were among trees planted in first half of the 1800's” Yuri tells us. “Such an amazing food source for all the Cockies, including yellowtail blacks.”
“I spoke to someone working there photographing trees, who wasn't allowed to discuss anything due to having a non-disclosure agreement in place. So much for transparency."
Yuri’s photos on this page are of trees in the small area marked in yellow and would represent only a small fraction of the trees on the Premier's hit list.
There are more than 33,000 signatures on a petition, urging the Premier to “Protect Possum Park”.
There were more than 33,500 signatures by Saturday 9 May, 2026 with numbers growing rapidly
https://www.change.org/p/protect-possum-park-pete
Nevertheless as recently as Thursday morning, 7 May, the Premier told 891 ABC Adelaide he still "hadn't got any reasons" to change his plans to destroy 585 trees.
Pic: ABC News: Angelique Donnellan
