Premier reveals plans for diced up Moore Park despite warnings
Premier Chris Minns has revealed what he plans to turn half of Moore Park Golf Course into, despite contamination fears over the land.
NSW
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Premier Chris Minns has committed his government to building new infrastructure for junior sport in Moore Park as part of his controversial plan to slice the golf course in half.
The vow comes despite the government being warned that construction activity at the site, including levelling land for playing fields, could unearth contaminated waste including heavy metals.
The warning, from Randwick Council, came during a government consultation process in which the vast majority of submissions opposed plans to cut Moore Park Golf Course in half.
Randwick Council specifically warned that any work to turn the golf course into public parkland could unearth contaminated material.
The council said that “contaminated incinerator waste” was discovered during 2022 works on E.S Marks Oval – adjacent to the golf course.
The council said there is a “risk of contaminated land fill, given the previous industrial use of the site”.
The Moore Park Golf Course sits on top of an old cemetery and garbage dump. From 1901, it was the site of the “Perfectus Garbage Destructor and Disinfector,” before the decommissioned incinerator chimney was demolished in the 1930s.
Randwick Council recommended the government investigate “the risk of such incinerator waste being present on the site and the risks of exposure managed during any proposed earthworks and re-levelling for the proposed park”.
Mr Minns told parliament on Wednesday that he would replace the current golf course with new infrastructure for junior sport at Moore Park to create space for kids to play soccer and football.
“As part of the government’s plan in relation to more parks, we will put more sporting infrastructure in, particularly football fields for local sport organisations,” Mr Minns told parliament on Wednesday.
The pledge to create new sporting infrastructure would also add to the cost of turning Moore Park Golf Course into 20 hectares of public space.
That is despite the government having already spent 40 per cent of the money put aside for the plan.
Taxpayers have already forked out more than $1.1 million for the design of a shortened golf course and public consultation work.
The government is facing increasing pressure from the Opposition to dump its plans in favour of an alternative proposal – from a consortium of golfing organisations – which would retain an 18 hole course.
While Sports Minister Steve Kamper has told parliament that the alternative plan was a “good proposal,” the Premier has poured cold water on the idea.
“Today we saw a Premier and a Minister for Sport who were as lost on Moore Park Golf Course as a duck in the desert. … Chris Minns will bend over backwards, against common sense, to keep Clover Moore happy,” Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said.
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