By now, many of you, our supporters and members, will have seen media reports and commentary suggesting that Conservation Council SA supported the proposal to bring the MotoGP into the Adelaide Park Lands. We understand why this has caused concern and frustration, and we want to address those claims directly.
First and foremost, Conservation Council SA does not support the MotoGP being located in the Adelaide Park Lands. We do not support the removal of trees, and we remain committed to protecting and restoring our precious urban green spaces.
We also want to sincerely thank the many members and supporters who trusted us through this period, reached out with questions, and gave us the opportunity to explain our position. Your passion for protecting nature is exactly why our organisation exists.
We have made our correspondence with the Premier publicly available because we have nothing to hide - please see letters linked below this statement. At no point was our engagement with the Government secret or confidential. In fact, our letters clearly raised concerns about development impacts in the Park Lands and repeatedly argued for stronger environmental protections. The letters also specifically identified concerns about future developments, including the potential impacts of the MotoGP.
Importantly, we were not provided with the full details of the proposal before they became public. We were not aware of the full scope of the plans, including the number of trees proposed for removal, until that information emerged alongside the broader public discussion. As many of you know, I personally became aware of the scale of the tree impacts only after receiving a call from the Minister shortly before the public announcement.
Our engagement with Government on the issue of a nature-positive investment did not begin with the MotoGP proposal. It began through concerns about the North Adelaide Golf Course redevelopment and broader questions about what "nature positive" should actually mean in practice. In our discussions, we argued that developments impacting nature should not proceed without significant investment in restoration, revegetation, biodiversity outcomes and community-led environmental action.
When discussions turned to potential environmental funding, our position was simple: if Government was intent on pursuing development in the Park Lands, we wanted to secure the strongest possible environmental outcomes for nature and for the community. We viewed this as an insurance policy against the worst-case scenario, not an endorsement of the development itself.
We also want to be absolutely clear:
- Conservation Council SA is not receiving any portion of the $15 million investment.
- We did not advocate for funding to come to our organisation.
- We worked hard to ensure that funding would be directed toward on-ground environmental outcomes and community organisations, rather than being controlled solely by government agencies.
- We consistently argued that investment should support revegetation, restoration, biodiversity protection and community participation in caring for the Park Lands.
As our recent community survey demonstrated, the overwhelming majority of respondents opposed a MotoGP circuit through the Park Lands and identified Tailem Bend as the preferred alternative location. We communicated those results directly to Government and called for the event to be relocated to an existing purpose-built motorsport facility.
Throughout this process, our goal never changed: protect nature, minimise harm, and secure the best possible outcomes for the environment and community.
Reasonable people may disagree about the strategy we took, and we respect that. Advocacy often requires engaging with governments and decision-makers, especially when we strongly disagree with the direction they are taking. Our responsibility is to fight for nature in the real world, seeking both to prevent environmental damage wherever possible and to secure meaningful gains for nature when difficult decisions are being made.
We remain committed to transparency, accountability and listening to our members. We will continue to stand against unnecessary tree loss, continue advocating for stronger protection of the Adelaide Park Lands, and continue fighting for a future where South Australia leads the nation in genuinely nature-positive development.