Premier Peter Malinauskas defends government move to buy up key pieces of land for development

The Premier has defended moves by the government to step in and buy key pieces of land before developers can, amid backlash about a potential West End brewery site sale.

Premier Peter Malinauskas says moves by the government to step in and buy key pieces of land for development are helping to address the current supply issues within the housing market.

South Australian taxpayers will likely shell out at least $70m for a late swoop on the historic West End brewery site, at Thebarton, in a deal expected to be finalised within weeks.

Industry sources have revealed Renewal SA is now the preferred bidder for the prime 8.4ha site after entering exclusive negotiations with owner, brewing giant Lion.

Urban Development Institute of Australia SA, chief executive Liam Golding – a former Labor adviser – said Renewal SA should not be “competing on open market to buy development- ready sites”.

“Out-bidding the market on taxpayer funds risks driving pricing higher, and that would ultimately get charged to the end user, exacerbating affordability issues,” he said.

Speaking at Adelaide Airport on Thursday morning ahead of his trip to China, Mr Malinauskas said the government had not yet finalised a contract for the brewery site.

Premier Peter Malinauskas at Adelaide Airport on Thursday morning. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“What I can say … in terms of the policy principle here, Renewal SA has always been an active players within the marketplace where we see strategic parcels of land that can be masterplanned and developed in accordance with local community’s interests but also the state’s interests at heart,” he said.

“That still results in major development occurring from the private sector.”

He said the Bowden development on the old Clipsal site was a good example of how the strategy can work successfully.

“What happens is, Renewal acquire the site, they masterplan the site, they address the remediation questions and then they put parcels of land in a strategic way on the market for the private sector to then develop,” he said.

Mr Malinauskas said acquiring parcels of land such as the brewery site was crucial in addressing current housing supply issues.

“There would be nothing more tragic than a significant strategic parcel of land sit vacant while we’re waiting for the market to sort itself out. We’ve got a housing crisis that is on now. We need more affordable housing the market yesterday,” he said.

“We need more supply in the system and Renewal purchasing significant strategic parcels of land gives us the ability to do that.”

Negotiations for the entire brewery land, on the city’s northwest fringes, are ongoing but are understood to be in the final stages.

Senior government officials are understood to be driving the acquisition including Mr Malinauskas, who has previously expressed concerns about developers land-banking sites primed for new housing.