Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Honourable Speaker, lutruwita/Tasmania is blessed with many areas of parkland, and green open spaces are an intrinsic aspect of Tasmanians’ lifestyle and character. We are deeply connected to nature, and open spaces connect families and communities to each other for recreation, walking with dogs and friends, and enjoying the gentle natural spaces in city environments. It is the threats to people’s way of life that has been the impetus for thousands of Clarence residents to rise up in in outrage after hearing that their special parks are set to be destroyed to construct an AFL high‑performance centre. That is a facility that could be located on any number of other more suitable and acceptable locations.
Charles Hand Memorial Park and Rosny Parklands form crucial open space in a part of Clarence that has experienced a massive growth in development in recent times. They are also spaces that form a central part of what is the now‑scrapped City Heart Project plan for Clarence. It is a plan that was widely lauded in the community for its vision and for a connected and cohesive approach to planning. In regards to the Rosny Parklands, the City Heart Project outline described it as:
A large area of council-owned public open space, previously used as a public golf course and laid out as a parkland with mature trees. It is a unique feature of the Clarence City Heart project.
It goes on to say:
Importantly, the land is subject to a condition on the title requiring that it remain for community use. Should the Tasmanian state government find that the land is not being used in accordance with the condition, it reverts to state government ownership. For this reason, council wishes to investigate uses for the land that are not commercial in nature.
To describe the multi-billion-dollar business that is the AFL as anything other than a commercial operation would be laughable if it was not for the fact that the majority of Clarence councillors have voted to give the parklands away to a for-profit company without a social licence for them to do that.
Rosny Parklands has the potential to serve as an accessible and beautiful linkage between Springhaven Lifestyle Village, Fairway Rise Residential Care Home and essential community services in the Eastlands area. It is a bright vision for a beautiful place that will be snuffed out for an elite AFL facility out of bounds for Clarence citizens if the community does not get its way.
The community is rising up because Charles Hand park is such a vibrant and essential part of the lives of people in the Clarence community. It links Rosny with Rosny College, Eastlands and Kangaroo Bay. If Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley and the development‑at‑all-costs crowd have their way, it would be sacrificed. I salute the community and what they have done so far. It was an incredible shock when people found out that there was this plan for what they considered to be in-posterity parklands that would be available for generations to come.
The good people of the Save Rosny Parklands group, which has developed in very short time, are doing what the Clarence City Council has failed to do at the beginning: they have initiated a genuine public conversation about how and why such important public open spaces matter to locals, and why they should or should not be gifted to the AFL. They have so many unanswered questions. Has the council followed proper procedure about site selection? Unlikely. Did the council send its proposal to the Department of State Growth before the council gave in‑principle approval to this proposal? Who knows? What communication was there about other potential sites in Clarence? Another mystery. At what point did the AFL get involved with these discussions and the subsequent decision‑making? Perhaps only Mayor Blomeley or Premier Rockliff knows the answer to that. Were all councillors given adequate and accurate information about other potential site options, feasibility studies and consultations? That is another question the community is in the dark about. These are all questions that the community has raised and is still asking without answers. It is utterly unacceptable.
The community needs to understand these issues and should not be bulldozed and tossed aside. That has been the approach of the mayor, Mr Blomeley. That is why the community group has gathered over 1000 signatures in quick time from concerned Clarence residents to conduct an elector poll. They have done it out of desperation and pure frustration. I can say, as a local member, I have been invigorated by the energy in the Rosny community, in particular, coming together on this issue. They all have busy lives and they have come together because they love those public open spaces and are shocked to the core at the idea that they might not remain in community hands.
The Greens and the Save Rosny Parklands group are in no doubt that the mayor, Mr Blomeley, has failed to follow correct processes. He has not considered alternative locations properly. He has misled fellow councillors in the community and he has consistently blocked the flow of information that is in the public interest. It is a typical Liberal Party ploy: bend over backwards to big businesses while treating the community with contempt. The Greens will not stand for it, civil society will not stand for it and the Save Rosny Parklands community will not stand for it. Their parklands are precious and their support for the call for an elector poll is going to allow the Clarence people to have their say.
We can see that their voice is already being heard and it is having an effect. I note that the Tasmania Devils Football Club chair, Grant O’Brien, said recently that the club is hoping to have:
A more definitive view on the suitability of the Rosny site in the coming weeks.
He also said in an update to members:
The club’s preferred location is the one where the entire training and administration facility would be housed on the site of the former Rosny Golf Club.
However, he added that relocating the project to the runner‑up site in Kingston had not been ruled out:
It is also important to note that the Kingborough Twin Ovals option remains under consideration whilst we are completing our investigative work.
It is important that the community keeps speaking out and speaking their mind. They were utterly sidelined, blindsided by the council. There was no consultation of the dog walking group, of local residents who knew nothing about this massive plan, of the skatepark users, of the young people at Rosny College. I salute them and look forward to the result of the poll.
