ADELAIDE 500 CIRCUIT DEBATE HEATS UP

There has been a further twist in the ongoing Adelaide Parklands Circuit saga, as Adelaide City councillor Greg Mackie claims that he never suggested ripping up the Adelaide Parklands Circuit.

It has been reported by several sources in South Australia that councillor Mackie is publicly backing a residents’ group which wants the unused racetrack to be ripped up.

The Adelaide Advertiser quoted Mackie saying, “a new landscape plan need not assume removal of all hard surfaces, but I would hope that a reduction could eventually be achieved.”

Implying that a portion of the tarmac should be ripped up to avoid Victoria Park turning into an “urban heat island” in the summer months.

However, on the Adelaide ABC radio Mackie expressed he never suggested ripping up the tarmac, only planting trees to increase shade around the parklands area.

“Most people will be aware that Victoria Park was a long-time horse-racing park and of course it was also the site of the pit stops for the Adelaide 500 and Formula 1 before that,” Mackie said.

“All I have done is put in a motion, calling for a report from Council administration to advise on the best steps to take in terms of process, so that in the future, we can achieve a greener tree canopy over that park area.

“My motion says nothing about ripping up bitumen. It says nothing about ripping up the cement that sat underneath the pit straight (garages).

“It is absolutely all about envisioning a shady future for that park which is used and enjoyed by so many people from pedal prix to cyclists, skateboarders, roller skaters and runners.

“It is on any weekend during summer, a very, very, very hot place for both participants, and also for audience members or families who come out to ensure their kids are playing safely.”

Mackie continued, highlighting that he wanted to plant trees in the area previously used as one of the Supercars support paddock areas by the penultimate turn.

“Back in the days when it was being used for car racing and when it was used for horse racing, line of sight meant that it was not a place to plant trees,” he said.

“However, even with the existing bitumen and cement slabs in the park, there is still quite a large area that is currently grassed.

“This would benefit from some tree canopy and as we know it takes some decades before trees reach shade giving status.

“That part, immediately in front of the old Victoria Park grandstand, there is the southern part of Victoria Park which is just open lawned grass at the moment, and it too could benefit from some better shade giving, so that it can be enjoyed every month of the year by visitors.”

Despite this, South Australian Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas remains committed to bringing back the Adelaide 500 if he is elected at the next state election.

“What Greg is coming up with is hair-brained ideas to basically take the single biggest attraction in Victoria Park out of it,” he said on 5AA radio.

“I’ve made a crystal-clear commitment and I’ve signed an agreement with Supercars that if Labor wins the next state election, we are bringing that race back.

“I’m not doing that because I’m a motorsport fan, I’m doing that because I believe the jobs it brings and we want our city to be alive again, particularly in post COVID, so we’re going to bring it back if we win.

“We hope the track stays for the short term for that reason, but even without that I take my kids to practice riding their bike there, we’re teaching my son at the moment to ride the bike and it’s the best place in Adelaide to do it.

“It’s actually fantastic, so I think Greg needs to spend a Saturday morning hanging out at Victoria Park and see what people are using before he starts ripping up that infrastructure.

“I don’t understand why people are so obsessed with turning Victoria Park into an area that South Australians can’t enjoy.

“This is an amazing location, an amazing part of our parklands, we should be trying to get people to use it rather than the opposite.”

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