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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-06-30 Daily Xml
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Local Government (Gawler Park Lands) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 18 June 2015.)

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:41): At the outset of my contribution on behalf of Liberal members on the Local Government (Gawler Park Lands) Amendment Bill currently before this place, I indicate that the opposition supports the bill and wishes to see it passed expeditiously through the upper house. The opposition received a briefing from the government on this bill on 25 March this year. As the advice was that the bill was in fact a hybrid bill, the select committee process—something I will touch on later in my contribution—was completed in the other house and no submissions were received. I commend the honourable members for Goyder and Schubert for their contributions to that process on behalf of the opposition and certainly I will talk a bit more about the select committee process later on.

This bill seeks to discharge a trust established in 1864 to convey 134 acres of parklands surrounding the original historic township of Gawler to the corporation of the Town of Gawler. For the benefit of the council, the trust itself was established as a charitable trust for the purposes of maintaining a public park, parklands and/or public cemetery for the benefit of the whole community. For those who are not aware of the geography of Gawler, the majority of this land does abut the riverine area of Gawler and certainly areas that are in great proximity to both the North Para and South Para rivers and the point at which they come together to form the Gawler River.

Now that over a century and a half has passed since the inception of this original trust, the land covered by the trust has been developed to include parklands and sports fields but now also includes a number of licences granted by the council for recreation and community facilities such as showgrounds, bowling greens, swimming pools, clubhouses and the greyhound racing track. While these licences have been executed in compliance with the Local Government Act 1999, there appear to be some inconsistencies between these activities and the objectives of the century-and-a-half-old charitable trust which controls them. These inconsistencies have caused difficulties for the Town of Gawler, and at their behest the government is now seeking through this bill to discharge the current trust and declare the applicable space as community land under the Local Government Act 1999.

It is worth noting that, whilst this bill is a short one, there is an important provision contained within it that will ensure that no transactions entered into by the Corporation of the Town of Gawler regarding the land covered by the trust and prior to the enactment of this bill will be invalid due to reasons of a breach of the original trust. This will ensure all current agreements held by the council and executed properly will not be affected due to past uses that were inconsistent with the charitable trust.

Finally, the bill amends schedule 8 of the Local Government Act 1999 to classify the area covered by the trust, namely the Gawler Park Lands and Pioneer Park, as community land and ensures that that classification is irrevocable. This will ensure the original purpose for the land and the charitable trust is continued, but grants the Town of Gawler the flexibility to offer a wider range of leases and licences over the land. It also prevents the council from selling the land once the trust has been discharged.

Since the commencement of this process almost three years ago, the occupants of the roles of chief executive officer and mayor of the Town of Gawler have changed. To ensure the current council's position remains steadfast, the member for Goyder, in another place, wrote to the council to seek its feedback before proceeding with the bill. I thought it would be of interest to honourable members to place on the record the response the opposition received from Her Worship the Mayor of the Town of Gawler, Ms Karen Redman:

Thank you for your correspondence dated 25 March 2015 relating to the Local Government (Gawler Park Lands) Amendment Bill 2015. The Gawler Park Lands consist of approximately 130 acres within the township of Gawler. The parklands were transferred to the Corporation of the Town of Gawler in 1864 on trust for the purposes of park lands.

In 2012 the council commenced a review of the management of these Park Lands, in particular addressing the complexity of the historical and current use of the Park Lands and past and current agreements in place for their use. This resulted in a request from the Council to the State Government seeking consideration of the introduction of appropriate legislation. This legislation would dissolve or modify the trust while ensuring the validity of current leases and providing the Council with the power to continue to effectively manage the use of these Park Lands in the future.

Obviously, this has been quite a lengthy process since the Town of Gawler identified the issues with the trust in 2012. The council was provided with a draft bill, in fact the same as we are debating now I understand, on 21 November 2014, quite soon after the most recent local government general elections. At its meeting on 16 December 2014, the council considered the draft bill and resolved to support it. I am pleased that the changes sought by the council are now coming to fruition and I look forward to seeing the continued community focused use of the parklands that the community of Gawler has seen for the past 150 years or so.

I would like to put on record my thanks to the honourable members for Goyder, Schubert, and Hammond for their contributions on this bill in the other place and in particular their kind words about a part of South Australia which is very near and dear to my heart.

The area that this bill encompasses is at the heart of the community of Gawler and many activities—sporting, recreational and in the nature of other community events—take place in that area. Certainly, my own experience includes having opened the Gawler Show in that area in 1997, exhibiting and judging sheep in the area, playing football on the Gawler Oval that is part of the area, and having attended countless Rotary meetings and suicide prevention meetings in facilities on those parklands.

Also, as the Minister for the Status of Women would understand, there have been numerous International Women's Day events held in the community facilities on those parklands. Only last night I attended the changeover of the Rotary Club of Gawler, held in the new Gawler Greyhound Racing Club facility situated on those lands. So, it is a significant element in my life but also in the community of anybody within Gawler and surrounding areas.

The reference to Pioneer Park is also one of great significance to the history of the early cemetery for Gawler, but in more recent times has become a great focus for the local RSL sub-branch and the very well attended commemorations that take place on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.

In conclusion, I again thank the House of Assembly for establishing a select committee and doing it with the sort of processes we regard as absolutely normal in this place. Unfortunately, there have been some instances in recent years where the House of Assembly has almost reluctantly agreed that a hybrid bill needs a select committee, and they have had these extraordinary situations on a number of occasions where they have established a select committee on a particular day, opened it and closed it within a matter of minutes without going out seeking any public submissions, which I have been very critical of (and I think I am not the only one) as it makes an absolute joke of the situation.

There was at least one occasion I think (I cannot remember the particular hybrid bill) where in this chamber we were so taken aback by that action that we in fact had our own select committee, which did the job properly. In many cases I understand the fact that there are likely to be no issues, but I remember one that the Hon. Mr Lucas and I served on some years ago, where it appeared that no issues would be raised and the proponents of the hybrid bill were not aware of an issue. However, when public submissions were sought, someone from the public came forward with something of value, which we were able to put into the bill as part of an amendment via a report from that select committee.

So, while these issues are sometimes unlikely to come forward, I have always been of the view that, if there is a process to have a select committee, then it should happen, as has been the case with this bill in the House of Assembly, where it did actually publicly seek submissions. The fact that none came forward shows that the bill is in good heart, and I am very pleased about that.

I am grateful for the fact that the member for Goyder picked up on my suggestion and, in seeking a proper select committee process, actually quoted me in the House of Assembly. I am pleased not about that so much but about the fact that the proper process was done, because I felt that the lower house was getting into the habit of having what I would call a mickey mouse select committee. So, I am glad they have done the proper process and that we now have this bill before us. With those words, I again indicate that the opposition will support the bill and I commend it to the council.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:54): I believe there are no further contributions to the second reading of this bill, and I thank the opposition for its indicated support. This bill amends the Local Government Act 1999 to address the issue of the Gawler Park Lands. At present, the Gawler Park Lands are subject to a charitable trust for the purposes of a public park or parklands and public cemetery. Charitable trusts must be for the public benefit and must be for the benefit of a section or division of the community, or the community generally, rather than for a confined group of private individuals.

Although much of the land held under trust has been developed in a manner that is consistent with the terms of the charitable trust, over the years the Town of Gawler has also granted a number of leases and licences that are not consistent with the terms of the charitable trust. To address these inconsistent leases and licences, the government agreed to the council's request to legislate to discharge the trusts and to declare the land community land under the Local Government Act 1999.

The bill extinguishes the charitable trusts in relation to the land and provides that no transaction entered into by the Town of Gawler in respect of the land prior to the bill being enacted is invalid by reason of constituting a breach of trust. In addition, the bill amends schedule 8 of the Local Government Act 1999 to classify the land as community land, a classification that is to be irrevocable. This approach will empower the Town of Gawler to grant a wider range of leases and licences over the land whilst still ensuring that the purpose and intent of the charitable trust are continued and the land continues to be used for the benefit of the community. I look forward to the bill being dealt with expeditiously during the committee stage.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

Bill taken through committee without amendment.

Third Reading

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:58): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.

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