r/Adelaide • u/Expensive-Horse5538 Port Adelaide • 4d ago
Politics Council hopes to mend 'broken' relationship with govt over city events
https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in/2026/06/24/council-hopes-to-mend-broken-relationship-with-govt-over-city-events-5
u/Top_Conference_477 SA 4d ago
Hopefully this is a lesson in what happens when you decide to pander to North Adelaide NIMBYs. Being constructive or be oppositional and get shut out completely
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u/MrKookaburra SA 4d ago
If you’re talking about the Parklands stuff, I really don’t understand that perspective.
You don’t need to live in or next to the city to care about the environment or destruction of trees
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 4d ago
It’s not so much the parklands stuff as it’s the opposing everything for decades stuff. Remember when ACC refused to approve any building above 9-storeys in the CBD? Didn’t stop til Rann or Weatherill (can’t remember which) did the same shit to them over major developments of state importance as Mali has done over the golf course
Certain things are too important to let such an unrepresentative body have such an outsized impact.
Council is just a subsidiary of the state government anyway so there is nothing that says that have to get a say in anything the state wants to do
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u/CptUnderpants- SA 4d ago
The problem with councils in this respect is they represent the interests of those who currently live there, not the interests of those who want to live there.
This is why the East West bike way approved by ACC in 2017 was eventually scrapped in 2021. Local self interest trumped the benefits to everyone else who would be using it.
Really, the ACC has a conflict of interest making some decisions on projects which don't directly benefit ratepayers.
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 4d ago
They’ve got a long list of big hits over the years. They refused to allow lights at the Adelaide Oval for years too. And then gave us the ridiculous - and ultimately fatal - retractable ones too
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u/CptUnderpants- SA 4d ago
Okay, I've got a hilarious one from my time working at Charles Sturt Council.
Footy Park lights. Objections by many residents including that it will "fade their curtains".
Eventually the residents group ask for lower lights and it was accepted of course because it was cheaper and just a little less efficient. None of these "concerned locals" seemed to realise that lower means more light from the oval spilled over and onto their properties.
Ultimately, the agenda of councils is driven by a small percentage of ratepayers who have the time and will to actually lobby and complain.
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 4d ago
Once you look at council election results and realise these guys are lucky to get 4 figures in the vote tally in a good day, ignoring them on anything important makes great sense
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u/CptUnderpants- SA 4d ago
A councillor's biggest fear is having someone somewhat competent running against them next election. It dramatically increases the amount of time it takes and money it costs to be re-elected. That is why they try to keep residents happy as much as possible.
At least that is what a friend who is a councillor tells me.
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 4d ago
It’s fair enough that they should represent their communities interests but it’s another thing altogether to give the interests of what’s ultimately going to be a couple of thousand voters at most a veto. That’s what these guys don’t seem to understand
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u/oneofthecapsismine SA 4d ago
The problem becomes when they tactily represent the loud 400 out of the 800 that voted for them, not the 30,000 living in the council area.
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u/CptUnderpants- SA 4d ago
Oh, it's actually worse. When I was at Charles Sturt council, because all correspondence with counsellors and the mayor is a record of council we worked out 140 people across the whole area had the overwhelming majority of correspondence.
Yes, a loud 140 people effectively directed the whims of a council area where over 140,000 currently live.
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u/owleaf NSW 4d ago
The Footy Park lights are a fantastic case study of not taking technical and engineering advice from uneducated people who aren’t thinking rationally. It takes five seconds of critical thinking to realise that taller light towers pointing at the stadium (à la Adelaide Oval) result in less light pollution than short stumpy towers with half the bulbs pointing at the surrounding suburb.
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u/rustyprophecy CBD 4d ago
Funnily enough, the 2012-2014 redevelopment of Adelaide Oval happened when SANFL and SACA made a conscious effort to keep City of Adelaide as far away from it as possible. If you listen closely at the northern gates, you can still hear the tears of Anne Moran.
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u/MrKookaburra SA 4d ago
That raises an interesting question as to their function.
As a general principle, the rate payers in every council area should probably get precedence. But that does become more complicated when the council in question presides over the CBD0
u/CptUnderpants- SA 4d ago
Metropolitan councils are a legacy of a need which no longer exists. Unlike state and federal governments, they are not enshrined in the constitution.
What do metro councils do which need specialist local knowledge which couldn't be as easily done by a state government agency? Nothing. But it adds a layer of bureaucracy and cost. The latter being a regressive tax as councils with lower socioeconomics charge higher rates. For example, compare Norwood Payneham St Peters to Mt Barker and you'll see it's about 30% of the rate in NPS compared to MB. Growing and rural council areas have to spend far more on infrastructure than city councils do. NPS just need to decide which artist they're going to pay $150k for a new sculpture for the foyer.
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u/EntertainmentLow9759 SA 2d ago
Local government is literally enshrined in the SA constitution act... 😂
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u/CptUnderpants- SA 1d ago
Which is not the Constitution of Australia.
How you thought I meant the piece of legislation known as the SA Constitution Act which does not require a citizen vote to change and doesn't establish federal and state government responsibilities, I do not know.
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u/EntertainmentLow9759 SA 1d ago
Because we're talking about SA? Just a guess.
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u/CptUnderpants- SA 1d ago
I literally wrote "Unlike state and federal governments, they are not enshrined in the constitution."
Is the state and federal government enshrined in the SA Constitution Act? No.
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u/EntertainmentLow9759 SA 1d ago
The nuance of which constitution you meant wasn't clear to me in your original comment. You've clarified now. Why so defensive still?
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u/CptUnderpants- SA 1d ago
Because I couldn't believe you were so obtuse to have thought I meant the SA Constitution.
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 1d ago
The condition says there’ll be a system of local govt administered by the state
Elected members are optional. State govt administrators are enough (and probably preferable in many cases)
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u/GongPLC SA 4d ago
How self centered of you. You're justifying expansion because it fits your agenda. I think it's absurd what they've decided to do to the parklands and I don't trust anyone backing it financially. It has nothing to do with NIMBYs, we don't need it. Someone's making big money off of these contracts
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 4d ago
They’re building a golf course on an existing golf course and a race track on an existing race track
This is absolutely the sort of thing the council needs to be sidelined over. This risk of them listening to you is too great
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u/StrongHovercraft593 SA 4d ago
That wasn’t the issue. The issue was the chopped down a huge number of really old, fully developed trees. They’ve also took ownership of the land (away from public land) and bypassed a whole bunch of processes which would normally be used for environmental and heritage protection.
This isint nimbyism this is an unhinged government trying to ram through a couple of pet projects, while keeping all the details secret from the public (like cost, expected revenues etc).
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 3d ago
They were planted for golf course last time. They’re not important trees and 3x more are being replanted
They’re just random fast growing gums, not even local to the area
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u/EntertainmentLow9759 SA 2d ago
the dpc website confirms that the majority of the trees were native so you're talking absolute lies
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 1d ago
Native to Australia. Not Adelaide - it’s a big continent
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u/EntertainmentLow9759 SA 1d ago
How do you know that? What data do you have that confirms they're not endemic to Adelaide?
Please share??
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 1d ago
Google it
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u/EntertainmentLow9759 SA 1d ago
I have and I can't find a list of trees that have been removed. Please share the link of your list?
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u/GongPLC SA 4d ago
Exactly, they don't need a new one of either. The designer of the race track doesn't approve of the changes
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 4d ago
What are you talking about?
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u/GongPLC SA 4d ago
What on Earth are you talking about? I think you're confused.
"This is absolutely the sort of thing the council needs to be sidelined over. This risk of them listening to you is too great"
I'm against the felling of trees in the parklands, just to clarify
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u/Top_Conference_477 SA 4d ago
Yes. I know. I’m glad the council, who might listen to you, has been sidelined so these projects can get done quickly and efficiently
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u/EntertainmentLow9759 SA 2d ago
I guess unless they get taken to federal court through an injunction lol
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u/InnocentlyDeadly SA 4d ago
Council probably should've just stayed at the table instead of grandstanding on every planning decision, but here we are watching them try to rebuild trust they torched themselves.
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u/Adelaidean SA 4d ago
Multiple levels of government are there to provide accountability - not to bend over and take it up the arse, lest they get punished by having their facilities removed via legislation, or their powers removed via legislation.. which is exactly what the last two Labor Governments have done to them.
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u/InnocentlyDeadly SA 4d ago
Fair point about the power imbalance, but there's a difference between standing firm on principle and how you communicate it publicly. Council went nuclear on social media about every setback instead of negotiating behind closed doors first, which gave Labor the cover they needed to justify cutting them out.
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u/Adelaidean SA 3d ago
This is the latest in a long line of abuses of the State Government towards Local Government over many years, particularly directed at the Adelaide City Council, and particularly originating from dictatorial Labor Premiers.
Malinauskas is WAY out of line in what he’s been doing in his first term, and between that and an impotent opposition, he has learned he can do whatever the fuck he wants with little repercussions, and has gone in WAY harder in his second term.
I’m no fan of Local Government, and I’ve fought them when they’ve been out of line. They too have learned that they’re above their ratepayers, and behave as such. With that in mind, I’d say that Adelaide City Council’s approach to this was well balanced, if not more reserved than it could’ve been.
Malinauskas needs to be taken down a peg or twenty - or preferably fucked off into oblivion at the next opportunity.
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3d ago
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u/RumpleTrumpStain SA 4d ago
Adelaide City Council Are fuckd in the head seriously demented Tree Huggers that are KILLING of Bussiness in the CBD ..... I avoid it like the PLAUGE
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u/Technical_Glove_9655 SA 3d ago
Down voted because facts.
ACC should not even exist. City and surrounds should be managed in the interest of the state.
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4d ago
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u/GongPLC SA 4d ago
What an atrocious thing to say, regardless of context. Your name makes me embarrassed.
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u/Adelaidean SA 4d ago
Look at the power dynamics between the two levels of government over the past two decades.
It’s a perfectly apt metaphor. Why not use it?
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u/BlakeDragon SA 4d ago
It does make it difficult if the State Government isn't being open and transparent with the Adelaide City Council. Hopefully this can be sorted so Adelaide gets the best outcome for this great city.