Tarrkarri back in the not real spotlight | Legal commissioner’s quandary
This week, InSider checks in on Adelaide’s most high profile non-existent building, and sympathises with a legal leader in a tough position.
Tarrkarri returns (sort of)
InSider has written before about the sad and somewhat farcical state of affairs concerning the Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre.
Tarrkarri – earmarked to one day perhaps rise upon a vacant lot next to Lot Fourteen at North Terrace – is a state government project set to showcase Aboriginal culture, except the state government put it on ice.
So when the government unveiled its new innovation centre at Lot Fourteen earlier this week, it was hard to avoid the elephant in the room.
Journalists were perturbed to see Tarrkarri not included on printed renders of the new Lot Fourteen plans, with just a tiny sliver visible.
“Where’s Tarrkarri?!”
But later that same day the government released full renders of the entire site – Tarrkarri included!
We were overjoyed to see the long-promised but non-existent building gleaming brightly in its HD glory.
A render of the entire Lot Fourteen site posted to LinkedIn shows our old friend basking in the sunlight on the right.
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InSider then decided to read the new Lot Fourteen Master Plan. There we discovered an interesting detail – the Tarrkarri project is set to start this year and finish in 2028!
How exciting – finally some alleged progress on the site, even if it’s not real, like the render. Earlier this year, InSider noted the government’s very ambitious timeline of Tarrkarri being completed by 2025 (per banners on the outside of the big North Terrace dirt patch). These banners have since been edited.
The new Lot Fourteen Master Plan gives Tarrkarri a completion date of 2028 – with construction set to start this year (not likely!).
Of course, there are caveats upon caveats to this new date. The $400-600 million project is yet to be funded, and the Premier is cautious to announce anything surrounding Tarrkarri.
Speaking to reporters on Monday at a presser on the innovation centre – which for some reason focused more on Katy Perry’s newly announced Adelaide show than anything else – Malinauskas said Tarrkarri “continues to be a work in progress”.
“We’re pretty candid about the fact that Tarrkarri is a policy challenge and there’s significant costs associated with doing it properly,” he said.
“What we’re working as a government to do is to secure funding to be able to deliver that. We won’t be delivering it unless we get that funding arrangement in a way that represents the best possible outcomes.”
But it’s been two years since the Tarrkarri project was paused and Malinauskas ordered an urgent review of the Aboriginal Cultural Gallery.
On Monday, the Premier said he “wouldn’t characterise” the pause as a pause – rather: “What we’ve been doing is a thorough piece of work to make sure that if you’re going to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into a brand new cultural institution that it works”.
“The government policy position in terms of Tarrkarri is we don’t want to build something that gets value managed down.
“If you’re going to do something, do it properly.”
Until then, Tarrkarri will only look glossy and value managed up on the master plan, and isn’t actually real.
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Wrong office, turn back
When we’re not tracking fictional buildings, InSider keeps a close eye on those in government who are repeatedly asked to do jobs they’re not meant to.
Our personal favourite in this category is Labor backbencher John Fulbrook – the state Member for Playford who, despite the name, does not represent the council area of Playford, leaving his office inundated with council complaints from constituents he does not represent.
The independent body that decides electorate names is yet to rule on Fulbrook’s repeated requests for a name change, with a decision expected in November (hang in there John).
Perhaps while he’s waiting, he can share a dejected drink with our state’s Judicial Conduct Commissioner, Micheal Boylan KC.
Boylan’s statutory role is to investigate poor behaviour in the South Australian judiciary.* The commissioner received 63 complaints last financial year. It turns out most of them were completely outside his remit, namely they were people grumpy with a court decision.
“Most of the complaints I received were dismissed,” Boylan lamented in his annual report tabled in parliament last week.
“As in the case of previous years, many of the complaints related to judicial decisions, which are not within my jurisdiction.
“The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has no jurisdiction to challenge or call into question the legality or correctness of any instruction, direction, order, judgment, or other decision given or made by a judicial officer in relation to any legal proceedings.”
Sharpening his criticisms, Boylan added: “Many complainants continue to misunderstand the role of the Judicial Conduct Commissioner, with them largely perceiving my role as being analogous to an avenue of appeal.”
If you’re grumpy about your recent day in court, please cut Boylan some slack. InSider is happy to take your call instead.
Slim Shady shares some shocking news
In one final piece of news to make you feel shockingly old: Eminem is set to become a grandfather.
The 51-year-old rap legend released a music video for his song Temporary on Thursday and towards the end of the clip, his 28-year-old daughter Hailie – whose mother is Kim Scott – presented her father with a scrunched-up football T-shirt that had the word “Grandpa” scrawled on the back.
Immediately after that, home video footage shows a photo of a baby scan that was hidden within the football shirt, and the Real Slim Shady hitmaker looks shocked to receive the news.
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is also an adoptive father to Alaina, 31 and Stevie, 22.
*An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the Judicial Conduct Commissioner’s role is to investigate poor behaviour in the whole legal profession. Its role is limited to conduct of the judiciary.
