Decision details

Moved by Councillor Chung –

It is resolved that:

(A)        Council note:

(i)          on 26 October 2020, Council considered the Lord Mayoral Minute "Moore Park Golf Course Proposal". This Minute stated that "Golf is well catered for in the Sydney metropolitan area. Within a 10 kilometre radius of Moore Park there are twelve 18-hole golf courses of which six are accessible to the general public.";

(ii)         the statement also appears in the City of Sydney's public consultation documentation, testing two potential options to “create new parkland” by reconfiguring the golf course from an 18-hole to a nine-hole course;

(iii)        inquiries, including conversations with senior members of the Moore Park Golf Club have revealed that the above statement is incorrect. The correct information is as follows:

(a)        Bondi and Woollahra Golf Clubs are only nine-hole golf courses;

(b)        Bonnie Doon and The Lakes Golf Clubs are private clubs and do not permit the public to play;

(c)         NSW Golf Club, St Michaels Golf Club and The Coast Golf Club are all more than 10 kilometres away from Moore Park Golf Club;

(d)        Randwick Golf Club does permit public play, but it is a short 18-hole course with a par of 59;

(e)        Marrickville Golf Club is a short 18-hole course with a par of 63;

(f)          Eastlakes Golf Club is a reasonable 18-hole course that allows public play, however they are not taking any new seven-day members at the moment as they are at capacity; and

(g)        St. Michael's Golf Club permits public players during restricted times, but Green Fees begin at $100 per person and the course is at least a 30-minute drive from the CBD; and

(iv)       the statistics on usage of Centennial Parklands, with the Lord Mayor claiming that 31 million people visit the Parklands annually, have been questioned and reported as grossly overinflated; and

(B)        the Chief Executive Officer be requested to:

(i)          immediately discontinue the City of Sydney's community consultation on the Moore Park Golf Course Proposal;

(ii)         halt any further spending of the $50,000 of Council funds allocated to the community consultation;

(iii)        immediately correct and retract the misinformation that was distributed by mail, newsletter, consultation documentation, mainstream media, social media, and online media by publishing a correction in a manner and distribution comparable to that of the original publication and ensure the correction is disseminated to the same audience; noting that any expenditure on this correction and retraction is to be funded from the remainder of the $50,000 from the 2020/21 General Contingency; and

(iv)       discard any community consultation to date based on this misinformation.

The motion lapsed for want of a seconder.

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