A Kaurna Elder has taken aim at a proposed development in the Adelaide parklands, saying a planned stadium threatens burial grounds, and accusing agency PlanSA of failing to properly consult with Traditional Owners.
Elder Jeffrey Newchurch made the comments during a town hall meeting of the Adelaide City Council reconciliation committee, confronting PlanSA director Anita Allen directly over what he called "a disgrace".
"We are the last people to be consulted,” he told the meeting.
“We’re not recognised, we’re not properly engaged, we don’t benefit. It is just tick a box approach. We are sick and tired of it."
The plans concern 70ha of land which the state government wants to rezone and subzone in order to pursue projects of "state significance".
That includes a new Women's and Children's Hospital, and the $662m 15,000-seat Riverbank Arena, a centrepiece of the Marshall governments plans.
Mr Newchurch said significant burial grounds would be affected.
A proposed 15,000-seat stadium. Elders say it threatens sacred burial sites. Source: www.renewal.sa.gov.au
"There are burial grounds spread everywhere from the Botanical Gardens to Hackney, right up to Stepney,” he said.
“All along the river there are burial grounds. It is recorded, it is known.”
A representative for the government's planning agency said "every effort" had been made to protect land of cultural significance.
"The government holds the Kaurna people and their views in the highest regard, and appreciates the importance of their connection to this land," read the statement.
"The views of the Kaurna people are an essential part of this process and soon after consultation commenced, a concerted effort was made to contact key representatives from both the Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation and South Australian Native Title Services.
"However, numerous attempts to get hold of representatives were unsuccessful."
Mr Newchurch dismissed the attempts to include his organisation in the consultation process, saying that while they were aware of the hospital plans, PlanSA had "jumped the fence” by “suddenly” including the area near the Adelaide Gaol and Thebarton Police Barracks.
"I come back from a break and I get an urgent call from the Adelaide City Council saying I need to start talking to our people,” he said.
“To be left in this space, not being properly recognised or properly engaged, is totally useless to us.
“It is a disgrace. We need to take this to our community. We have to take it our children and our grandchildren, because it is their future.”
