Peter Malinauskas needs to keep Adelaide City Council a safe distance from North Adelaide Golf Course’s LIV upgrade plans

The Adelaide City Council’s promise to help sounds nice but recent history may leave the Premier sceptical, writes David Penberthy.

Researching a column can at times be a tedious process. On the rare occasions I have to write about AUKUS, I spend the first half hour doing Google searches to find out how many submarines we are meant to be building, and what their names are, not knowing the difference between a Virginia Class submarine and an Air Warfare Destroyer.

The research for this column was a total pleasure – an afternoon’s golf with my teenage son on Wednesday at the North Adelaide south course.

Like many hackers, North Adelaide is the place where I honed my mediocre golfing skills. My own dad used to take me to the par 3 when I was a kid. My older son has played often at the par 3 in North Adelaide, and is now good enough to get around on the grown-up courses, although like me still spends much of the time inspecting the root system of Moreton Bay figs to locate the result of an errant tee shot.

That’s the vibe of North Adelaide. There are a lot of good golfers who play there, and plenty of crap ones too.

But it’s a public course, so it’s not snooty or up itself.

You don’t get told off for wearing a T-shirt. No-one gives you any attitude if you’re playing a round with one of your kids who’s clearly still learning the game, and is being taught by someone who doesn’t have much of an idea themselves.

Greg Norman, South Australia's Premier Peter Malinauskas, and LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil as they announce Adelaide securing the tournament until 2031, during the final day of the LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club. Picture: Brenton Edwards/AFP

It is also a genuinely unique and wonderful course in Australia – indeed the world – as it is in a beautiful parkland setting smack bang in the middle of a major city.

Which invites the conclusion: what a great place for an international golf tournament.

You can see why the Premier, the state’s tourism chiefs, city hospitality businesses and LIV Golf itself are licking their lips at the prospect of transforming North Adelaide into a world class golf venue.

In principle I reckon it’s a great idea too.

But two big questions remain: what is the nature of the development, and by what process will the development proceed?

Many rank amateur golfers have questions about whether the affordability of the North Adelaide course will remain the same once the LIV folks get involved.

The question of the course design has not been fleshed out at all yet either. Apparently the Premier has said it will go from being two 18-hole courses to a more challenging world-class 18-hole course with a neighbouring nine-hole course.

As it stands though, North Adelaide comprises three courses – the two 18-hole courses and the par 3 course. Will that entire footprint be used for the redevelopment? Will any of the original course remain?

At this stage, the public has seen nothing meaningful as to what the government and LIV have got in mind. It still feels like some excitable thought bubble Mali and Greg Norman had after a day together at the Watering Hole.

It would be a good thing if the presentation the Premier gave to the Adelaide City Council last Monday could be made available to the public.

We are the major stakeholders – and as taxpayers, investors – in all this. We deserve a look at the idea so far.

Having mentioned the Adelaide City Council, let’s turn to the second point, the process by which this development goes ahead.

When Mr Malinauskas announced this idea two weeks ago, the immortal words of former SACA president and Howard government minister Ian McLachlan were ringing in my ears.

As a chief architect of the Adelaide Oval upgrade, McLachlan declared from the outset there was no way the project could or would proceed if it had any involvement from the council.

Mr Malinauskas appears to have drawn the same conclusion, buttressing himself with legislative powers and flanked by upper house independents Connie Bonaros and Sarah Game when he announced his golf plan.

Premier Peter Malinauskas and Adelaide Lord Mayor Dr Jane Lomax-Smith. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier

But in a move which has shocked us hardened cynics with an historically dim view of the council, Lord Mayor Dr Jane Lomax-Smith has been the very picture of open-mindedness since the plan was announced, promising to work collaboratively with the government every step of the way.

The big question is whether the Premier will regard the Lord Mayor’s statements as reassuring or alarming.

The Lord Mayor might be talking about the project in a positive sense, but I suspect the government has little appetite for working “every step of the way” on anything with the council.

The tight time frame means there will be no desire on North Tce for interminable meetings and public consultation, the same sort of malarkey which cost the Crows several years and sent their former CEO Andrew Fagan around the twist as they sunk into a quagmire of fruitless talks about the aquatic centre headquarters plan.

As reasonable as the Lord Mayor is being, the council has an ignoble history of supporting events which appeal to its artsy middle-class appetites, but baulking at anything enjoyed by the great unwashed, such as rock festivals or the V8s.

The timeframe of the project, while short, is also long enough that a less reasonable Lord Mayor and more militant council could be installed off the back of resident-driven NIMBY-ism over the project.

If the government locks itself into a process of consultation with the reasonable Dr Lomax-Smith, it might end up having to deal with some future lord mayor who wants every blade of grass heritage listed, backed by a roomful of councillors who are ready to chain themselves to the Moreton Bay fig where I lost my ball on Wednesday.

Beyond that though, the council has the right to argue that as the owners and operators of a revenue-making enterprise in the North Adelaide Gold Course, they can’t be expected to shrug their shoulders and hand the thing over for nought.

From here-on in, this could make for more interesting viewing than any golf game.