Mount Compass Golf Course

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:33): I rise today to speak about a community issue that is causing some concern for the people of Mount Compass. The Mount Compass Golf Course Estate Code Amendment is currently being considered by the Attorney-General's Department, with consultation having closed last month, I am advised.

Currently, the golf course is zoned as neighbourhood and recreation use. This limits development prospects and preserves the Mount Compass Golf Course. But Mr Connor, the owner of the golf course, I am advised, submitted a plan in March of this year to carve up the golf course into 682 housing allotments, which I also understand was a plan rejected by the Alexandrina Council.

Mr Connor has decided that he wants to take it further by appealing to the government and wants to develop the golf course area, turning it into housing. His previous plans would have more than doubled the size of the existing township, I am advised.

The proposal before the Attorney-General's Department seeks to rezone the area to 'golf course estate', which would allow for some further development of the area. Some people are very concerned that this second proposal is a bit of a Trojan Horse and that it is a convoluted attempt to eventually get to where the original proposal intended.

Members of the Mount Compass community are concerned that it will carve up the town and leave the people of Mount Compass to clean up the consequences of a vastly increased population without the necessary infrastructure to service that increased population. The Mount Compass community's concerns are very real, and they are genuinely held. They raise questions around good governance and the limited community consultation that has occurred.

We know that there are native and threatened species in the area of the Mount Compass Golf Course where this development is proposed. We know that the Fleurieu swamps on the Golf Course Estate and surrounding lands are critically endangered and that they are listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. What we do not know is what the government has done to properly consider these issues of the environmental impact of the housing development on the site.

What communication has occurred with the commonwealth environment department in relation to the 170 native plant species that grow in and around the nearby swamps? What environmental impact assessment has been undertaken? The Mount Compass Golf Course Estate is also in a high bushfire risk area and has limited points of access, I am advised, so we do not even know what assessment of the area has been taken into consideration to ensure that any development of this land takes into consideration bushfire risks and ensures the safety of the residents and potential future residents.

Mount Compass is at the head of one of two branches of the Tookayerta catchment, which is prone to flooding downstream. We do not know what considerations and consultations occurred with farmers downstream who rely on this water source for their stock. What guarantees have been made to the people in this area that the Tookayerta catchment can handle additional housing and the other developments associated with it upstream without negatively impacting those downstream with existing use of that catchment?

New stormwater catchments from additional roads upstream would, of course, increase dirty water going into the aquifer and downstream of it. We do not know what planning has been consideration in regard to that run-off. Has it even been considered?

The Mount Compass Golf Couse Estate relies on water supplied by the company Compass Springs, which, coincidentally, is also owned by Mr Connor, and it has utilised the underground springs of Mount Compass. There has already been public outcry from the community at the increasing cost of the water supplied by Mr Connor's business to existing homes in the estate. We do not know if there is any guarantee at all for the new residents that they too will not have to pay prices that are much higher than what other people pay to SA Water.

We do not know whether the school has enough capacity to handle however many new families would move into Mount Compass Gold Course Estate. We do not know whether the local post office, which does not have a roadside delivery, will be able to handle the excess housing and families that will move into the estate. There are so many questions that just either have not been addressed or where we have not been advised or the community has not been told they have been even taken into consideration.

I am advised that Mr Connor is currently selling properties advertising a golf course view, despite the fact that he intends through his proposal of development to carve up those golf course views and turn it into housing. Why is the government allowing a developer to carve up the Mount Compass Golf Course when the zoning principles currently do not allow for such a development and when the local council has rejected that development? Why are they considering this when the community clearly does not want it and, as I said, the local council has been fighting the proposal?

This kind of development is consistent with the divided Marshall Liberal government's disdain for our southern communities, and I ask the question: why are they doing this to the local community of Mount Compass?