{"id":73668,"date":"2026-08-17T06:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T06:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/73668\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T06:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T06:10:13","slug":"golf-course-protesters-take-on-sa-government-in-federal-court-over-parklands-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/73668\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf course protesters take on SA government in Federal Court over parklands project"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what’s been described as a David and Goliath battle, a trial has begun in the Federal Court, with two South Australians challenging the state government’s redevelopment of the North Adelaide golf course.<\/p>\n

Public servant Edwin Kemp Attrill and Kaurna Arabana woman Janette Milera are challenging the redevelopment, arguing it is in breach of federal conservation laws.<\/p>\n

In front of other protesters opposed to the parklands project outside court, Mr Kemp Attrill said the unfolding legal process was “very nerve-wracking”.<\/p>\n

“It’s a big uphill battle for us but we’re really proud to be standing here,” he said.<\/p>\n

Ms Milera said she was taking action because she thought it was the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

“This case is about respecting cultural tradition and truth telling,” she said.<\/p>\n

For [SA Premier] Peter [Malinauskas], it’s a new golf course. For me, it’s a bloodline.<\/p>\n

“This case we’re doing is because the parklands belong to the people and they need to be protected.”<\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

Protesters opposed to the state government’s actions in the Adelaide parklands gathered outside the Federal Court. (ABC News: Leah MacLennan)<\/p>\n

The state government announced its plan to redevelop and expand the golf course<\/a>, as part of its bid to move the LIV Golf tournament into the city.<\/p>\n

It said 585 trees would be cut down in the process<\/a>, to be replaced with new plantings.<\/p>\n

The state government passed laws earlier this year, taking control of that part of the parklands away from the Adelaide City Council<\/a>, to allow it to go ahead with the redevelopment.<\/p>\n

But the removal of trees sparked protests<\/a> and the legal action taken <\/a>by Mr Kemp Attrill and Ms Milera.<\/p>\n

\"Machinery<\/p>\n

The redevelopment of the North Adelaide course has involved the felling of hundreds of trees. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)<\/p>\n

In his opening address, the lawyer for the pair, Arturo Dal Cin, told the court the Adelaide parklands were given national heritage listing in 2008.<\/p>\n

He said more than 400 trees had already cut down at the golf course \u2014 a number he said accounted for 15 per cent of all the trees in the area marked for the first stage of the development.<\/p>\n

“Recognition of parklands necessarily includes recognition of established trees, because a necessary element of parklands is established, mature trees,” Mr Dal Cin said.<\/p>\n

He said the works have impacted the national heritage values of the parklands.<\/p>\n

“A fundamental issue in this case, one of the fundamental issues, is the extent to which your Honour finds the removal of trees to this scale to be a significant impact on what the appellants will be contending is a national heritage value \u2014 namely the parklands and their protection,” he said.\"An<\/p>\n

Trees were removed from the area in May. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

Mr Dal Cin said evidence would also be presented during the trial about the impact on Aboriginal cultural heritage and on local flying fox populations.<\/p>\n

‘Assault on democracy’<\/p>\n

Before going to court, government lawyers wrote to Mr Kemp Attrill, warning him he could be liable for $4 million in costs if he lost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Outside court, Mr Kemp Attrill said the government had not backed down.<\/p>\n

“It’s really concerning to us that in a public interest case the government has continued to say that they will essentially crush us if they win,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We think that’s incredibly unfair and it’s an assault on democracy in South Australia.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The redevelopment of the course was announced as part of plans for LIV Golf. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

Premier Peter Malinauskas said his government has acted lawfully.<\/p>\n

“All the advice that I’ve received from the relevant agencies is they’ve sought to comply with all requirements as they’ve gone through it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve said all along that any individual is welcome to take up their rights to challenge things in court, as is being done in this particular instance.”<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to take five days, with government lawyers to present their response on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In what’s been described as a David and Goliath battle, a trial has begun in the Federal Court,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[395,1355,1109,21028,10947,2675,23267,86346,1358,12696,3889,8420,1865,105815,1356],"class_list":["post-73668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-adelaide","tag-adelaide","tag-course","tag-court","tag-edwin-kemp-attrill","tag-federal-court","tag-golf","tag-janette-milera","tag-lands","tag-north-adelaide","tag-park","tag-parklands","tag-possum-park","tag-protest","tag-public-servant","tag-redevelopment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}