Election 2018: Adelaide Riverbank Authority to be scrapped by Liberal Party to speed up precinct development

LIBERAL leader Steven Marshall is vowing to “turbocharge” the revitalisation of Adelaide’s multi-billion dollar Riverbank precinct, by scrapping the government authority he says has failed to progress the key tourism, cultural and sporting hub.

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LIBERAL leader Steven Marshall is vowing to “turbocharge” the development of Adelaide’s multi-billion dollar Riverbank precinct, by scrapping the government authority he says has failed to progress the key tourism, cultural and sporting hub.

The Riverbank, stretching from Bowden to Hackney, encompasses the state’s biomedical, entertainment, arts and education precincts and is the key focus of Adelaide’s revitalisation. Labor in 2014 established the Riverbank Authority to provide advice about cohesion and implement a development masterplan.

The authority’s chairman Andrew McEvoy – former South Australian Tourism Commission boss – last year blamed the council for slowing down developments and called for the Government to strip it of its power in the Riverbank precinct.

The Riverbank, stretching from Bowden to Hackney, encompasses the state’s biomedical, entertainment, arts and education precincts and is the key focus of Adelaide’s revitalisation.

But Liberal leader Steven Marshall accused the authority of failing to improve the area and said disbanding it would save taxpayers up to $3.2 million over the next term of government.

“Labor’s Riverbank Authority has been a failure and will be scrapped,” he said. “The authority was set up in 2014 to make recommendations about major infrastructure proposals and co-ordinate development of the riverbank precinct, but little in the way of new development has been secured since its formation.

“The authority’s brief included the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site but development plans stalled, while there’s been no significant progress in other areas either.”

Mr Marshall said the slow growth in the area was an indictment of the Labor Government, which made the decision to relocate the hospital in 2007. He said greater consultation was needed with people along the Riverbank who have not been engaged by the “expensive” authority.

“We would like to get the major groups, entertainment, sporting and culture together to basically turbo charge the redevelopment in that area,” he said.

The Liberals estimate scrapping the authority would save taxpayers up to $800,000 a year.

In an interview with The Advertiser before the Liberal announcement, Mr McEvoy acknowledged the pace of developments was slow, which he attributed to red tape.

He said “more than 30 pieces of legislation govern the Riverbank precinct” and that “if you really want great development, that needs to be simplified”. Mr McEvoy argued that the authority’s strength was that it had experts to inform decisions, compared to elected members, who merely had opinions.