Bills

Heritage Places (Adelaide Park Lands) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 17 May 2023.)

The SPEAKER: The member for Elizabeth.

Mr ODENWALDER: I yield to the member for Unley.

The SPEAKER: That sounds very British, does it not? The member for Unley, someone has yielded to you.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (10:33): I thank the member for Elizabeth for allowing me to make a contribution to this bill. This bill was passed in the upper house; it was a bill of the Hon. Mr Simms in that place. The bill was also supported prior to the Labor Party being in government, in their last term in opposition. Since then there have been numerous attempts to get this bill through this chamber, but it has continually been postponed.

Today is a great opportunity, I believe, for goodwill to be shown by the Malinauskas government through supporting this bill. They have been supportive of it before. We have an opportunity to complete the debate on this bill today and get this bill off to the Governor to be signed so that we can see the protection of the Parklands.

There are some key important points. It actually reduces the bureaucratic process, if you like, for the protection of the Parklands. The amendment bill seeks to establish Adelaide Parklands as a State Heritage Area. I think it is fair to say with great confidence that with most cities around the world people talk about the parks within the city; when it comes to Adelaide, it is this city within the park. It is a unique future of the city of Adelaide. It is the lungs of the city of Adelaide and certainly the inner metropolitan areas. There is no doubt that my electorate in the seat of Unley benefits enormously, particularly those in the northern end, with a very easy walking distance to both manicured Parklands and also Parklands that still resemble bushland and have a very strong biodiversity of native flora and fauna that grow and live in that space. There are the playing fields too, of course, which are a very important part of the Adelaide Parklands.

I can remember when I first joined the Adelaide Park Lands Preservation Association in 1988. One thing that everybody had in common in that group was that they supported the Parklands, but there was a big divide back then, and I think that divide is still there, as to what the original intention of Colonel Light was for the Parklands. I sided with those who believed it was not for it to be an actual bushland but for it to be a parkland for people to use and to enjoy, and yet there was another group in that organisation who believed that it should be a bushland that is looked at and admired and that preserved what was there before European settlement. However, that debate I think still continues today.

I think the important thing is that we are actually seeing a balance of those two ambitions, if you like, in the Parklands. Personally, I would like to see, particularly in the southern end of the Parklands along Greenhill Road, more manicured garden, more introduced species of trees, more parks that have a lawn that is mowed that can be used for families, particularly as we are seeing a higher density of housing being introduced into the suburbs.

The third high-rise development now has been approved for Unley Road. The first one that went up—the process started just after the 2010 election—was completed a number of years after that because it was quite controversial. This is the development between Opey Avenue and Hart Avenue. After a long consultation period, the council and the then Labor government negotiated a five-storey cap for Unley Road north of Northgate Street, I think was were that started.

It got off to a bad start because the very first development that was approved by SCAP was 7½, storeys and that was that development. It ended up being divided into two development sites, developed at the same time by two different developers. We have now seen other high-rise apartment buildings. There is another one being built on the former second-hand store in Unley, just down the road from the Ultra Tune and the Rotary op shop, across the road from where my shop was when I was there back in the 1990s. I understand it is selling extremely well. A lot of people who are downsizing from living in larger homes in Malvern and Unley Park are wanting to stay in the area and they are moving in there. There is now an application for another one on the corner of Esmond Street and Unley Road.

Of course, this all requires open public space. The Parklands are very close to these developments and I believe it is very important that they are protected and that we have this heritage status. It is important not only that we have this heritage status but that we improve the maintenance and the care that we have for the Parklands, and not just those Parklands that are accessible for those who are ratepayers of the City of Adelaide.

Perhaps the City of Adelaide and the City of Unley, for example, could talk about how they could share the maintenance of Parklands that are used predominantly by those who live in the City of Unley who have moved into apartments built on Greenhill Road or Unley Road. We know that there is going to be another application for a large subdivision on the corner of Mary Street and King William Road coming to the minister for approval sometime soon.

I think it is a very innovative way of increasing access to open public space and using that open public space more effectively by making it very attractive. I know there are people who do not like walking through the Parklands, particularly in the summer when they might want to walk from Unley to the city, because of a fear of snakes because of the bushland nature of the Parklands. If we see more manicured Parklands near where people live, the Parklands will be used even more and I think we will also see that they will feel safer because more people will be there.

It is important, I believe, that we have an uplift in the care and management of the Parklands, including more grassed areas. I would like to see more specimen trees. We were very quick off the mark with our Adelaide Botanic Garden to plant some amazing trees from around the world and from other parts of Australia. I believe we have the largest introduced or planted Australian cedar tree growing in the Adelaide Botanic Garden, and we have some extraordinary examples of kauri pine trees from New Zealand and from Queensland that are enormous trees in the Botanic Garden. It would be lovely to see those, as well as the old Moreton Bay fig trees that we see throughout Adelaide and also along the boulevard off the Botanic Garden. They are really quintessential Adelaide. I support this bill and encourage the government to carry this bill through and support it also.

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (10:43): I move:

That the debate be adjourned.

The house divided on the motion:

Ayes 24

Noes 16

Majority 8

AYES

NOES

PAIRS

Motion thus carried; debate adjourned.