City Councillor rejects LIV Golf move to North Adelaide, seeks park lands protections
An Adelaide City Councillor says he will not support the move of LIV Golf to the North Adelaide Golf Course from 2028, citing human rights concerns over the event’s major sponsor and threats to public access of green space.
Adelaide City Councillor Keiran Snape told InDaily he would not support LIV Golf’s move to a redeveloped North Adelaide Golf Course “no matter what”, and has prepared a motion for next week’s council meeting seeking assurances the park lands will be protected.
Snape said his goal was to “at the very least, secure some protections for the park lands and some transparency for residents and ratepayers”.
“If I could do that, I can sleep happy at night,” he said.
Speaking to InDaily, Snape said he only found out about the government’s deal to move LIV Golf from the Grange Golf Club to North Adelaide from 2028 on Sunday via the media when the deal was announced.
Councillors will receive a confidential briefing next Monday from the state government – “which I certainly welcome,” he said.
InDaily understands Adelaide Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith was in discussions with the Premier about the event’s move to North Adelaide before the announcement, but was not involved in commercial in confidence discussions.
“We might finally know what’s going on as of next week, but we won’t be able to share that for God knows how long,” Snape said.
Snape will circulate his motion amongst his colleagues today and intends to move it as a motion without notice at next Tuesday’s council meeting subject to Monday’s confidential briefing.
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“If I’m not happy with what I hear, I’ll pull the trigger,” he told InDaily.
The motion requests “a consultation process be undertaken with residents of North Adelaide and affected stakeholders, including the North Adelaide Golf Club members, the Adelaide Park Lands Association and the Adelaide Park Lands Authority” and “that the removal of any significant trees because of a course design be kept to a minimum, and seek written commitment to preclude any increase to built form (buildings), permanent fencing of the newly developed course, and that temporary fencing be installed only for the minimum time necessary to stage the three-day event”.
The Councillor – formerly Deputy Lord Mayor – remained concerned about the possibility of a permanent fence being erected around the golf course, despite assurances that would not proceed from both the Premier and the Lord Mayor.
Speaking to ABC Radio Adelaide yesterday, the Lord Mayor said fencing was top of mind but that “there’ll be no permanent fencing, I’ve been assured”.
“We have to ensure that it’s still public. The government has agreed – they’ve stated up front – that it will be public and we have to make sure that the particular sensitivities of all the neighbours are taken into account,” she said.
Snape was not convinced: “[The Premier] will not actually get to decide that at the end of the day, and it will come down to insurance and the insurance companies,” he said.
“I will be seeking a commitment that we don’t have permanent fencing and we don’t have long-term fencing such as what we’ve seen down in Victoria Park around the 500 where infrastructure – so called ‘temporary infrastructure’ and fencing – is up for months at a time.”
He is also “very wary of new buildings”.
“Especially after all the work Council has done policy-wise to reduce building footprint [in the park lands],” he said.
“Greg Norman is wanting to redesign the golf course layout and I’d be strongly against any destruction of significant trees within that design.”
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The Lord Mayor agreed yesterday, noting “nobody wants trees to go”.
“But we will have to talk with the designers, because I think inevitably there’s going to be some movement of earth,” she said.
The SA Greens also raised similar concerns yesterday, with MLC Robert Simms noting: “When parliament resumes this week, the government must clearly detail its intentions”.
“Will there be same level of community access to public green space under the LIV golf plan? Will trees be removed? Will the new Golf Course offer the same level of public service and at what cost to players? Will the Council continue to run the golf course, or will it be run by the State Government, like the redeveloped Aquatic Centre? These are all important questions that need to be considered when assessing any proposal for the Park Lands,” Simms said.
“It’s concerning that crossbenchers would potentially give the government a blank cheque when it comes to Park Lands development. Parliament shouldn’t be asked to sign up to this plan, sight unseen.”
Human rights and environment concerns top of mind
But Snape’s core concerns with the plan are existential too.
He said he had issues with the sponsorship of LIV Golf itself, specifically the involvement of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
The PIF is the nation’s sovereign wealth fund and has, according to Reuters, invested nearly US$5 billion in the loss-making tournament.
LIV Golf operating losses in 2023 were at US$394 million, US$150 million more than the year before, according to Reuters.
Snape said the PIF was “oil money, clear cut”.
“This golf tournament is funded by oil money and that goes against both the City of Adelaide Climate Emergency Declaration and also the state government’s Climate Declaration,” he said.
“We should be rejecting that. But as a side note, we should not be supporting Santos having sponsorship rights of the Tour Down Under.”
He also raised concerns with Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, pointing to claims in the media that the nation uses investment in sport to improve its global reputation via ‘sportswashing’.
Indeed, Human Rights Watch claimed last year that the PIF “facilitated and benefited from human rights abuses”, and that the fund’s controller – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – “has used the fund’s economic power to commit serious human rights violations and investments in foreign sporting events to whitewash the reputational harm”.
“There are multifaceted concerns,” Snape said.
“Not too many people have touched on [the PIF] this time around. There has been commentary in the past but as part of this announcement the issue has been more about a move to North Adelaide – which I also don’t support.”
