Anthony Albanese against plan to carve up Marrickville Golf Course
Federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese (and his dog Toto) have mounted a spirited defence of a council proposal to turn the 18-hole Marrickville Golf Course into a nine hole facility.
Federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese (and his dog Toto) have mounted a spirited defence of a council proposal to close half of his neighbourhood golf course.
In a battle that is being replicated across Sydney, Mr Albanese has attacked a push by the Greens and Inner West Council to turn the 18-hole Marrickville Golf Course into a nine hole facility.
The council has approached the club with two proposals, one of which includes closing half of the course and replacing it with soccer fields and picnic areas.
But Mr Albanese, who is a non-golfing honorary member of the club, said the proposal “will destroy a successful local club and endanger precious green space”.
“The Greens Party have already had a go at this once before and have continually campaigned to have the golf course sliced in two,” he said.
“Their obsessive opposition to community sport needs to end.
“As a Marrickville local I walk my dog on the course regularly.
“If the proponents of destroying Marrickville Golf Club got out of their ivory tower and went down to the course they would see it is already loved and used by the public all the time.”
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Marrickville Golf Course president Eddie Larkiss said he rejected the nine-hole option immediately when approached by the council earlier this month.
The club is holding a protest event April 7.
Inner West Council Greens councillor Colin Hesse, whose partner Justine Langford is behind the push, said golf is a “minority sport” and that he would want to see “whether it is viable as a nine-hole course”.
“It (the golf club) is the second largest amount of space in the local government area,” he said.
Ms Langford did not respond to requests for comment.
A council spokeswoman said there is currently no draft Plan of Management for the site, however public consultation is due to begin mid this year.
Works began earlier this month on Strathfield’s the Hudson Park Golf Course, which has been closed to make way for tennis courts and other public facilities.
Warringah Golf Course, also council owned, is likely to be closed in the next few years, while Wakehurst and Bayview Golf Clubs are also in trouble.
Between 2013 and 2017 Sydney’s population increased by 23 per cent, from 4.76 million to 5.37 million.
At the same time golf participation in metropolitan NSW (mainly Sydney) dropped 1.4 per cent, from 65,587 to 61,097, according to Golf NSW.
This was 0.2 per cent worse than the state wide drop of 1.2 per cent.
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