SA Labor in danger of ending up in a bunker over golf development

He’s kicked popularity goals thanks to major sporting events as SA Premier. But Peter Malinauskas’ obsession with LIV golf could prove an albatross around his neck as his government seeks re-election.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, pictured with former LIV golf CEO and champion golfer Greg Norman, left. Pictures: News Corp

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Sport has been pivotal to the ­popularity of South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas but his support for LIV golf and a ­costly and contentious golf course upgrade on Adelaide’s parklands threatens his government as it seeks re-election.

Since his thumping win at the 2022 election, Malinauskas has been credited by many South ­Australians with giving the state a new spring in its step through hosting major events.

Chief among these have been the AFL’s Gather Round, the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf tournament and the triumphant return of the V8 Supercars, which were mystifyingly scrapped by ­former Liberal premier Steven Marshall despite attracting strong support from revheads.

These events have made total economic sense and have generated millions for the state in revenue, far eclipsing taxpayer support, while also making Adelaide a desirable tourist destination after years being dismissed as dullsville.

Norman, left, Cameron Smith and Malinauskas at the inaugural LIV Golf tournament in Adelaide in 2023. Picture: Getty Images

But Malinauskas is now fighting a battle on several fronts over his plan to shift LIV Golf from its current home at the private Grange Golf Course to the public North Adelaide Golf Course in the Adelaide CBD.

Central to that shift is a taxpayer-funded plan to spend up to a hefty $50m on the redesign and redevelopment of the North Adelaide Course, the project headed by LIV Golf supremo Greg Norman, whom Malinauskas now counts as a friend and to whom the North Adelaide project was awarded without a tender process.

This plan has created the conditions for a very Adelaide brawl involving parklands purists who abhor any activity on the city’s greenbelt, bourgeois North Adelaide residents worried about traffic and noise, and the entirety of the Adelaide City Council which is fuming at having been steamrolled by the Premier’s use of special legislation to shift management of the golf course from the council to the state government.

The Adelaide Parklands Association has accused the Premier of “pillaging your park for millionaire FIFOs”, capturing the class war hostility towards the cashed-up golf fans who now descend on Adelaide when LIV is staged.

Separately, the Premier is accused of trammelling the city’s heritage with his support for a Lang Walker-built skyscraper that will tower over Parliament House on North Terrace, with former Labor premier Lynn Arnold leading the campaign against the 38-storey building.

All this is coalescing into a nightmare scenario for Labor’s Lucy Hood in the volatile seat of Adelaide, which has a long history of changing hands amid development concerns.

Malinauskas says his use of special legislation to enable the golf course rebuild was not a power grab but an act of practical necessity. He insists the North Adelaide project cannot get bogged down in local government process if the new course is to be ready to host LIV for the first time in 2028.

The third hole at North Adelaide Golf Course, with the city in the background. Picture: AAP

But it is the Premier’s hostility to that process which has inflamed his critics, along with simmering signs some members of his own parliamentary team fear Malinauskas might be placing too much store on this event.

Their qualms go to the question of priorities, creating a broader challenge for SA Labor that goes beyond middle-class concerns over heritage and green space.

Put simply, Labor has failed to honour its two biggest promises from the 2022 campaign – to fix the ambulance ramping crisis ­and to create a green hydrogen industry in SA.

Ramping figures are worse now than they ever were under the Liberals, despite record health spending to attract more doctors and nurses and open more beds, and green hydrogen dollars have now been shifted towards the $2.4bn Whyalla steelworks package, which increased by a further $275m this week.

Ambulances ramped at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Adelaide. Picture: Kelly Barnes

The government has also made no secret of how tight its budget settings are, declaring that aside from the new Women’s And Children’s Hospital and South Rd upgrade, no other major infrastructure spending will be countenanced as state debt lumbers towards $50bn.

A raft of unresolved enterprise disputes with public sector unions is placing further pressure on the budget bottom line.

Against this backdrop, the question “So who’s up for a hit of golf then?” is an increasingly fraught one. Malinauskas has plenty of backers in SA, evidenced by a thumping poll last month showing him trouncing opposition leader Vincent Tarzia as preferred premier by the historic margin of 72 to 14.

Much of his political capital comes from his ability to flip traditional Liberal voters to his side, especially younger men, with his passion for sport. He is helped to that end by being a Labor right-winger who has no truck with woke politics and rejects the tax-mad, anti-business stylings over the border of the Victorian ALP.

Saudi backing unrest

So far, Malinauskas has silenced any disquiet on Labor’s Left about throwing public money at an event backed by the Saudis, despite private mutterings in some quarters about human rights and the blokey nature of the event, where at its famous “Watering Hole” thousands of drinkers line the par 3 hole in the biggest sporting bacchanal this side of Bay 13.

In announcing the new LIV project and the North Adelaide upgrade, Malinauskas explained the economics behind the initiative, pointing out that in the past three years revenue to SA from the tournament had grown each year, reaching $80m this year for a total of $230m. The event attracted 102,000 guests this February, up 9 per cent on last year, and Malinauskas believes a city-based tournament will drive even bigger numbers and generate more revenue for city and wine region hospitality businesses.

“LIV Golf has proven to be a transformational event for Adelaide, attracting visitors from around the country and the world to South Australia,” he said.

“While they may have come to see the world’s best golfers at the world’s best golf event, it also provides a powerful platform for these visitors to experience everything that makes South Australia great.

“We have locked in LIV Golf until at least 2031 and we are taking the steps necessary to make sure we can accommodate that growing economic and social benefit – which is exactly what a redeveloped public North Adelaide Golf Course will deliver.”

But at a price tag of $50m, there are growing murmurings that the cost of golf may be too big a price politically, even for a government that appears unbeatable. Fuelling this are the longer term doubts about the viability of the LIV model itself, with attendance figures and TV ratings for LIV events other than Adelaide suggesting the fad might be wearing off.

There was a telling moment last week when the Premier was on leave during the worsening algal bloom crisis which illustrated the growing debate about his priorities. With the passing of SANFL legend Barry Robran, Malinauskas broke his holiday silence to pen an obituary on social media.

The post was inundated with comments telling him he wasn’t the sports minister but the Premier, and asking what he was doing to fix the algal bloom crisis in SA’s oceans. Sport has been a recipe for Malinauskas’ success. But with the LIV brawl in North Adelaide, he is testing the boundaries of living by Roy and HG’s maxim that too much sport is barely enough.