Dear Supporters,

First up, the petition is getting into stride nicely. Please continue to spread the word, especially by sharing on social media. 

We will announce the date and time of our first rally on the steps of Parliament House in the coming days. This will be our chance to stand together, in the heart of our democracy, and make our voices heard.

The fight to achieve the bustling open plaza that was promised is far from over. The proposed tower is, at best, a good building in the wrong place—one that would swallow up what remains of this precious public space.

Let’s be clear: erecting a private office skyscraper on public land is no civic achievement. Shuffling office workers from one part of the CBD to another is not economic growth. And no one should be surprised that the Planning Commission gave its approval—after all, the rules were changed to make this outcome inevitable. But our battle is far from lost.

The photo above—taken before the Planning Commission (SCAP) waved through this 38-storey monster—offers concrete evidence of how secretive and underhand the state government’s handling of this process has been.

We now await the outcome of our submissions to the Australian Heritage Council. If you haven’t already, please write to them. Every voice counts.

Hon Bob Carr, Chairman, Australian Heritage CouncilAHC.Secretariat@dcceew.gov.au
cc: Minister.Watt@dcceew.gov.au

Also write to Lucy Hood, State Member for Adelaide
adelaide@parliament.sa.gov.au

This petition and campaign are beginning to tap into the seething outrage felt across the community. Outrage that the state government would:

 • Give away a priceless and irreplaceable civic space to a private developer who will profit from it for generations—with those profits flowing out of South Australia.

 • Take away from the community the open, recreational, and cultural resource that was promised—and instead impose a giant, private structure.

 • Cannibalise existing city office tenancies—hardly the mark of genuine progress.

 • Distort the physical balance of the city with an overwhelming monolith offering negligible civic benefit.

 • Overshadow the workings of our State Parliament, even casting shadows across Government House.

 • Steal from Adelaide the chance to create a globally distinctive Democracy Plaza and Hub beside the very building where South Australia became the first place in the world to grant women both the right to vote and to stand for parliament.

 • Create—as several questions at SCAP highlighted—a bleak, wind-tunnelled precinct that risks becoming abandoned at night, far from the vibrant, activated space we were promised. A precinct that could even present new security concerns.

This fight is not over. Together, we can still ensure that this vital public space serves the people of South Australia—not private profit.

Thank you for your help, watch out for announcement of the rally- it will be loud and fun, and please continue to spread the word,

Robert 

for the Save festival Plaza Alliance