by Shane Sody
Hundreds of survey respondents have identified the State Government as the biggest threat to your Adelaide Park Lands.
The survey, carried out in February and March 2025, was advertised on our website, newsletter, and social media throughout Adelaide.
The survey distribution was not confined to Park Lands supporters. In fact, of the 319 respondents, only 17 per cent advised that they were members of the Adelaide Park Lands Association.
Survey respondents were asked: “Are you a member of the Adelaide Park Lands Association?”
Nevertheless when asked for the "most pressing issue" for your Park Lands, the item that ranked highest amongst survey respondents was “the State Government using Park Lands as a land bank for new infrastructure”.
Amongst survey respondents, other related issues ranked close behind: “Insufficient legal protection” and the perennial problem of various groups wanting Park Lands for “bigger, new buildings”
It’s the second year in a row that the State Government’s Park Lands attacks have been identified by our survey respondents as the most pressing issue for your Park Lands.
It’s hardly surprising, because over the past three years, the State Government has chosen to plunder your Park Lands for:
a new multi-storey car park,
also the likelihood of large new buildings to cater for professional-level, commercial golf course.
In the past 18 months, dozens of your Park Lands trees have been bulldozed, to make way for some of this new infrastructure (see videos below). Even more tree destruction is predicted in Possum Park / Pirltawardli (Park 1) to cater for an annual three-day professional golf tournament.
Even though a Parliamentary inquiry, chaired by a Labor MP in 2023 called for “urgent action on arresting the decline of the urban tree canopy”, the Government so far has refused to listen to that alarm.
Other survey results
60 percent of survey respondents advised that they visited your Park Lands at least weekly, if not more often:
More than half of all respondents have been active in Park Lands activities:
Most survey respondents were supportive of APA’s activities, with a majority prepared to consider one or more of APA’s Park Lands activities:
What will we do with these results?
The Annual General Meeting of the Adelaide Park Lands Association is scheduled for Sunday 27 April. https://www.adelaide-parklands.asn.au/agm-2025
Guest speaker at the Annual General Meeting: self-styled “Transparency Warrior” and Senate candidate, Rex Patrick
If you are an APA Member, you’re encouraged to contact secretary@adelaide-parklands.asn.au to:
put forward (by 9 April) any motion for discussion or decision at the AGM; and/or
nominate (no later than 20 April) for the managing Committee/Board.
Following the AGM, the newly-elected management Committee/Board is expected to use these survey results and any directions endorsed at the AGM to plan new campaigns and activities to Explore, Inspire, Protect and Restore.
If you are not a member, you can join here to get your voice heard at the AGM and/or nominate yourself to be a Park Lands leader with APA.
SURVEY PRIZE DRAW
After the survey concluded on Wednesday 26 March, a random prize draw produced ten winners, who were each advised to respond, to claim a free gift of their choice from the APA Shop.
We’re waiting for those ten to claim their prizes.
Prize winners could choose any one of these items from the APA Shop
Could you be one of the ten winners? Check your spam or junk mail folder to see whether you have a "random prize draw winner" email from secretary@adelaide-parklands.asn.au
If any winners fail to claim their prize by 6 April, another random prize draw will be conducted so that all ten promised prizes will be allocated.
The author of this article, Shane Sody, will be retiring on 27 April after eight years as President of the Adelaide Park Lands Association. He is also the editor of the semi-monthly newsletter, "Open Green Public".
Subscribe here.
https://adelaideparklands.m-pages.com/YWRrGW/adelaide-park-lands-assn-mailing
