Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore accused of conflict over Moore Park Golf Course plan
Australia’s most prominent mayor has lobbied for half of a huge golf course to be turned into mega park, but she failed to disclose one important fact.
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For almost as long as she has been in power, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has publicly pushed for a chunk of a sprawling 18-hole golf course on a prized parcel of land to be shut down.
What the veteran politician has been less forthcoming about is the proximity of her home to the 100-year-old Moore Park Golf Course, which critics say represents a possible conflict of interest.
Ms Moore, who is seeking a historic sixth term at September’s local government elections, has for years pushed for half of the site’s 40 hectares to be resumed and turned into parklands.
Late last year, she got her wish when New South Wales Premier Chris Minns announced just that – some 20 hectares of the golf course would be transformed into a world-class public space.
It will include nature-based children’s playgrounds, large open sporting fields, walking and running paths, youth facilities, such as a skate park, outdoor fitness facilities, and a native meadow, according to a discussion paper released by the State Government.
Mr Minns described the plan as one greatly benefiting local residents, with the new mega park set to “transform people’s experiences … with more natural parkland and more creation space”.
Among those set to reap the rewards are the owners of a charming four-bedroom heritage terrace house on Kepos Street in Redfern, a short 500-metre walk away.
The property has been owned by Ms Moore and her husband Peter since 1978, but they recently moved out so their adult son could move in.
Now, the couple lives down the road in an apartment on Bourke Street, some 400 metres from where the new park would sit.
Yvonne Weldon, the first Aboriginal councillor elected to the City of Sydney, who is now running for mayor as an independent, has raised concerns about Ms Moore’s personal interest in the project.
“I think it needs to be acknowledged and people need to be made aware of the truth that is happening here,” Cr Weldon told news.com.au.
A spokesperson for Ms Moore’s campaign said she hadn’t acknowledged her property ownership in the context of her lobbying for the park because “it was not required by the City of Sydney’s Code of Conduct”.
News.com.au asked Mr Minns about whether he was aware of Ms Moore’s property ownership before deciding on the park plan and if he considered it a conflict.
His office did not respond to those questions.
The meeting that wasn’t … then was
Not long after making the shock announcement, the premier told Radio 2GB’s breakfast host Ben Fordham that he had not discussed the park plan with Ms Moore.
It soon emerged that wasn’t true and Mr Minns made a hasty clarification.
The pair had met three months prior and Ms Moore’s campaign to close half of the golf course to turn it into a public park was a main topic of conversation.
Documents obtained under freedom of information legislation by The Daily Telegraph show the mayor wrote to Mr Minns on July 17, saying: “I ask that you carefully consider the City’s proposal to provide more equitable access to Moore Park, including reconfiguring Moore Park Golf Course from 18 holes to 9.”
A month later, Ms Moore sent a follow-up letter about their meeting and an apparent request by the premier to be briefed on Moore Park Golf Course’s membership numbers.
Two months later, he held a press conference and unveiled the controversial plan, with details exactly matching those proposed by Ms Moore.
The premier’s office has denied the contact between him and the mayor amounted to lobbying and rubbished claims the park plan was part of a quid-pro-quo arrangement.
Talkback radio host Ray Hadley claimed in October that Mr Minns agreed to Ms Moore’s contentious proposal to secure the support of independent state MP Alex Greenwich, the member for Sydney and a close ally of the mayor.
“He’s going to close it down so that Alex, next time there’s a really important vote … Alex is going to come on board and say: ’I’m with you, Chris.’” Hadley alleged.
Mr Greenwich did not respond to a request for comment. Ms Moore’s spokesperson did not respond to a question about the backroom deal claims.
Gutting a national icon
Local resident and golf enthusiast Jared Kendler leads the Save Moore Park Golf Course campaign and slammed Ms Moore’s “pet project”.
“It doesn’t make any sense to convert the busiest public golf course in Australia to anything else but a golf course,” Mr Kendler said.
“Golf has now overtaken soccer as the most-played organised sport in the country. It is on track to significantly increase again this year, continuing its astronomical growth. It’s a sport that’s been increasingly popular with young people and kids.”
More than half a million people visited Moore Park Golf Course last year and 100,000 rounds were played, with 80 per cent of players using all 18 holes, he said.
Ms Moore’s lobbying failed to persuade the previous Liberal Government, which examined the proposal and found it didn’t stack up.
Mr Kendler worked for the NSW Government at the time, advising on the operation and development of major precincts.
“I’ve seen what [Ms Moore] has put forward to the government but she is increasingly using data that is wrong.”
When she wrote to Mr Minns following their July meeting last year, Ms Moore included a five-year-old report from the Australian Sports Commission on golf’s “participation trends”.
But that analysis relied on data from 2016 to 2018, with numbers “surging” since that time, Mr Kendler said.
When he announced the plan, Mr Minns insisted the golf course management had been consulted and was aware the bombshell was coming.
The premier also insisted leaders of the course were invited to make their case to the government.
“That’s not true,” Mr Kendler said. “No-one knew this was coming, including the president of the club, which is the membership entity. I also met with [Planning Minister] Paul Scully two weeks prior and was assured this wasn’t something the government was considering.”
Smears and mistruths
For years now, Ms Moore has painted a picture of Moore Park Golf Course as being something of a playground for the rich and elite, who she claims travel from the Northern Beaches to play.
Mr Kendler said analysis of the course’s membership and surveys conducted of those visiting showed the overwhelming majority live in the vicinity or close by in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The claim that only rich people use the space, emphasised by Ms Moore’s claim that she has seen “very expensive cars” in the car park, including a Rolls Royce, are “bizarre and untrue”, he said.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted that that’s her line of thinking.
“Now, if she’d actually spent some time on the golf course with the thousands and thousands of young kids who use it on a weekly basis to learn the game, she’d see ladies clinics running, learning the game, she’d see the number of elderly Australians who are reliant on the golf course as their main form of exercise.
“It’s a public golf course. It’s not for the elite, as she claims, which is pretty rich from someone who’s chauffeur-driven to her office and spends millions of dollars on a private staff of 22 people.”
Recently released documents reveal Ms Moore will spend an estimated $47 million on staff salaries over the coming decade, with an average annual pay packet of $179,000.
All up, the mayor’s office spent almost $4 million on administrative expenses in the last financial year, according to The Daily Telegraph, some $114,000 over budget.
Her private staff is bigger than that of the NSW premier. Ms Moore’s own salary is almost $270,000 per year.
“She accuses people of being elite without acknowledging her own elitism,” Mr Kendler said.
“She also argues that Moore Park Golf Course visitors can simply use one of the other courses in Sydney, but those are largely private and members make up a fraction, about 400,000 people, of those who play.
“There are well over three million players who are reliant on public facilities. That’s like arguing that you don’t need a public hospital because there’s a private one nearby.”
Cr Weldon agreed, describing Ms Moore’s ‘for the rich’ claims as “just not true” and flying in the face of available data and evidence.
“It’s the most accessible golf course in Sydney and it’s public, meaning that everyone is welcome,” Cr Weldon said.
“It’s more affordable than any of the neighbouring courses. It’s very popular, particularly among young people, one of whom is my five-year-old grandson who’s there regularly to learn how to play.”
Staunch opposition to plan
In March, famed Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg called on Sydneysiders to “save” Moore Park Golf Course.
Standing on the putting green, golf club in tow, Wahlberg, who is currently in Sydney for the filming of Amazon crime series Play Dirty, called for the controversial plans to be scrapped.
“I know I am not a citizen of Australia but I am pleading to you to save Moore Park Golf Club,” he said in the short 44-second video.
City of Sydney councillor Lyndon Gannon supports an alternative proposal put forward by Moore Park Golf Course to retain all 18 holes while reconfiguring parts of the site to offer more green space.
“That would actually bring more people in, and bring more revenue in, which I think is a good idea,” Cr Gannon said.
The Liberal councillor, who is also running for mayor, said the government’s plan “has been a debacle from the start”.
“And it clearly shows that Clover Moore is running out of ideas. This golf course was never a city asset and she’s pursuing it because she’s got some political advantage rather than focusing on her job, which is roads, rates and rubbish.”
Former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, a keen golfer himself, also rubbished the plan and said Mr Minns’ handling of the matter was not “particularly smart”.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mr Minns said the park was “much needed” for area that will become the most densely populated in the country.
“The population of this area is expected to almost double between now and 2040 to 80,000 residents and the NSW Government does not apologise for ensuring that people who move into this area have access to much needed green space,” the spokesperson said.
The value of green spaces
According to research firm CoreLogic, in densely populated parts of Sydney, there is a strong relationship between proximity to green space and home prices.
A meta-analysis of case studies in Australia, North America and Europe found natural assets in urban areas, like parks and forests, had driven property values up by 20 per cent in some cases.
One study on the impact of green space on Melbourne’s housing market in 2013 found a five to seven per cent lift in property values for dwellings immediately adjacent to parks. Analysis of the Perth market revealed similar results.
Tim Lawless, research director at CoreLogic, said particularly dense pockets in Sydney – especially in the eastern suburbs – see residents place a premium on access to green spaces.
“In these higher density precincts, efficient access to public green space becomes all the more important, with a statistically significant positive relationship between unit prices and proximity to green areas such as parks and reserves,” Mr Lawless said.
In arguing for the mega park, Ms Moore said the area’s rapidly growing population, spurred on by mass development in nearby Green Square, required more open green space.
But Mr Kendler said that situation is a result of City of Sydney’s “mismanagement” of mass development in the precinct.
“Clover Moore failed to adequately preserve recreational space there as it became denser and denser. I guess that’s why she’s pushing so hard to take away half of the golf course.”
Zann Maxwell, Labor’s candidate for mayor, agreed.
“Clover Moore has overseen one of the largest developments in Australia, with insufficient green space to support the community,” Mr Maxwell said.
“Now the State Government is left to try to fix her mistakes, to provide the much-needed green space that she failed to deliver.”
In a statement to news.com.au, Ms Moore said Sydney had changed since the golf course opened in 1913 and it’s no longer the best use of public inner-city land.
For the thousands of people in or moving into apartments in the Green Square urban renewal area, Moore Park is their back yard,” she said.
That precinct is about 1.2 kilometres away from where the new park will be located.
Mr Kendler pointed out that next door to Moore Park Golf Course is Centennial Park, which features 189 hectares of open space, including sports fields, gardens, bike and walking paths, recreational facilities and wetlands.
No feedback before election
In February, the NSW Government released a discussion paper and sought public feedback about the proposal to turn half of the golf course into parklands.
The process, managed by Greater Sydney Parklands – which has authority over several major public green spaces – concluded in early April.
Opponents to the plan have questioned why there has been no news since then.
When contacted about the status of the consultation process, a spokesperson for Greater Sydney Parklands said it was preparing a report for release “later this year”.
“This report will present the feedback received from all consultation methods including submissions and survey responses,” the spokesperson said.
“A high volume of submissions was received and a What We Heard report on the outcomes of the consultation is being prepared.”
While no firm date was provided, the spokesperson said it would be “late 2024” – after the outcome of the local government elections, it’s understood.
A source with knowledge of the consultation told news.com.au that the overwhelming sentiment about the plan from locals who responded was negative.
“Feedback from the early engagement stage will assist the NSW Government in refining its proposal for the new public park and the future of golf at Moore Park,” the Greater Sydney Parklands spokesperson said.
“Feedback will be used by Greater Sydney Parklands to undertake preliminary planning and design work. Design of the new park and the golf course will then be subject to ongoing consultation.”
Originally published as Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore accused of conflict over Moore Park Golf Course plan
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