Fight for future of park trust

The trust’s chairman, John Walker, said the FoI request was necessary because the chairman of the SCG trust, which wants to take over the administration of Moore Park, was aware of the details of the proposal when no one else was.

“It is a scandal that a vested interest group appears privy to the contents of a proposal to Cabinet to assign public lands to itself, when neither the custodians of the land nor the public have access to the proposal,” Mr Walker said on Tuesday.

“We feel duty bound to lodge a Freedom of Information request on behalf of the public.”

Mr Walker said the trust had written to the State Government asking that it be consulted on any proposal regarding the parklands.

“We were told that consultation would occur after the Cabinet has considered the matter,” he said. “We have been given no indication . . . what the proposal does or does not contain.”

A crowd of about 300 took part in a rally at Kippax Lake on Saturday to protest against the proposed transfer of land from the Centennial Park trust to the SCG trust.

In attendance were the federal Wentworth MP, Malcolm Turnbull, and the state Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon.

“These are public parks and they must remain in public hands,” Ms Rhiannon told the crowd. “The NSW Government needs to wake up and realise that NSW is not theirs to give away.

“The idea of these Sydney landmarks becoming carparks for sports fans or being sold off to fill the coffers of the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust is unthinkable.”

But SCG chairman Rodney Cavalier said his trust would take better care of the park than its present administrators.

“Moore Park will continue to be public parklands, protected by exactly the same statutory oversight,” he said. “The SCG has no intention of altering the character of Moore Park. Why would we?”

Meanwhile, the NRL is set to announce plans to build a new $17.4 million headquarters at Moore Park, on SCG trust land.