Campaigns

A development application has been lodged to demolish Bryson’s House, a 19th century Local Heritage Place in Beaumont. The house was built by Mr Alfred H. Bryson in 1906. It was located in the midst of an olive grove planted by Alfred and his son, both of whom later set up an oil press on the property. After the death of Alfred and his wife, the house was lived on […]  Read More »

There is currently an application to demolish a Local Heritage Place in North Adelaide. The applicant argues that it was a “mistake” that the building was heritage listed and that there is an “overreach” of heritage listing in the Adelaide City Council area. To quote the application: “Although the building is protected as a Local Heritage Place, its demolition would improve the architectural character of the locality rather than diminish […]  Read More »

Did you know that preserving heritage buildings can help combat climate change? Some people erroneously view heritage as an impediment to action on climate change. In fact, climate scientists suggest that we should retrofit and adaptively re-use existing buildings rather than build new ones if we want to address climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released a report that indicated we need to cut emissions in half […]  Read More »

Adelaide is losing its mature trees at an alarming rate. According to a recent analysis, as many as 75,000 trees are being lost each year across metropolitan Adelaide. Recent changes to our planning rules are escalating the losses. The stakes are high – our trees: Help make our cities more liveable (living near trees has been shown to improve our health) Lower temperatures by as much as 5-6 degrees during […]  Read More »

Our planning system needs to be democratic, fair, and inclusive. The community needs to be able to trust that decisions about our city, about new buildings and new developments, are made in a way that is transparent and impartial, with the interests of the wider public given proper consideration. But it is not possible to have a planning system with integrity, while property developers are able to exert huge influence […]  Read More »

In April 2020, a 14,000 signature Petition was presented to the Legislative Council by Hon Mark Parnell MLC, on behalf of the Protect Our Heritage Alliance.   The petition raised concerns about the content and implementation of the Planning, Development, and Infrastructure Act (PDI Act), and the Planning and Design Code (PDC), and requested independent reviews of their impacts. Last November, the Legislative Review Committee (LRC) of State Parliament released its […]  Read More »

Local governments have long played an important role in the protection of local heritage, and are often the authority that makes decisions concerning the demolition of heritage buildings, or the cutting down of urban trees. That is why the National Trust of South Australia and the Conservation Council of South Australia surveyed 1,000 council candidates, in the largest-ever survey of council candidates. Years of changes to planning laws and policies […]  Read More »

The previous state government sought, unsuccessfully, to privatise the iconic Martindale Hall, star of the film Picnic at Hanging Rock. Martindale Hall was gifted to the entire community, for all of us to enjoy. It was never intended to be sold off, turned into luxury, private accommodation, for the benefit of a fortunate few. It must stay in the hands of the community!! During the state election, SA Labor Deputy-Leader […]  Read More »