This is the April 2026 newsletter for the St Peters Residents Association, representing the Residents of St Peters, College Park, Hackney, Stepney, Maylands, Evandale & Joslin.

This is a special newsletter focused on the fence recently erected at the St Peters Billabong by the council.

Contents

Items that we hope you will find of interest include: -

• Motion by Cr Kester Moorhouse
• Friends of the Billabong
• SPRA's Response
• Facebook Page

Membership subscriptions for 2026 were due for renewal by 31st December.
Please refer to the membership page.

Motion by Cr Kester Moorhouse

St Peters Ward Councillor Kester Moorhouse has submitted the following motion for Tuesday night's council meeting.

That an independent report be provided to Council into the feasibility of relocating the recently erected fence adjacent to the St Peters Billabong carpark, to enable continued safe public enjoyment of the plateau area of
the community land overlooking the St Peters Billabong, behind River Street.

Page 28 of the council agenda for Tuesday, 7 April 2026. THh public are welcome to attend these meetings in the town hall.

SPRA urge residents to text, ring or email your councillors to express your support for Kester's motion. Council elections are scheduled for November. The council website has Contact details.

Friends of the Billabong

SPRA received a copy of the following email which was sent by Greg Coote, Co-convenor of the Friends of the St Peters Billabong expressing dismay at the installation of the fence without consultation. SPRA agree with the sentiments expressed by Greg and furthermore express our thanks to the amazing volunteers who have devoted so much time and expertise to restoring the native flora and fauna.

Dear Mayor Bria

I’m writing to express my concern and disappointment at the installation of the locked gate preventing access to part of the St Peters Billabong environs previously maintained by the Friends of the Billabong. While I am not a resident of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters Council area I have been an active volunteer with the Friends for ten years and have been co-convenor with local resident Nadia McLaren for much of that time.

The Friends’ volunteers have spent hundreds of hours over the years planting locally native plants and weeding the area bordering on the Billabong behind the River Street carpark and the rear of the first three neighbouring houses as far as the rear of number 17. The result is a biodiversity-rich area of particular value as it, uniquely for the Billabong re-vegetation site, retains its original soil horizons.

Every volunteer inducted into the Friends of the Billabong receives a tour which includes the now isolated area, both for an introduction to the plants and for the panoramic view down the length of the Billabong which allows our re-vegetation work to be seen in the wider context. For the same reason every public tour we have provided under the auspices of the Council has commenced at that location.

We arrived on-site last Sunday to find the gate installed and padlocked. It beggars belief that this could happen without any discussion or consultation with the Friends of the Billabong or even the basic consideration of an explanation. None of this has gone down well with the volunteers.

The final irony for me is this. Most, if not all, of the River Street houses backing on to the affected area have private gates giving access to it. By preventing public access the Council has effectively ‘gifted’ to the residents a now private native garden extension to their properties entirely created and until now maintained by Council volunteers.

Sincerely
Greg Coote
Co-convenor
Friends of the Billabong

SPRA's Response

SSPRA does not support this action by Council to install the two metre high security fence which completely blocks access to the best views of the billabong. While safety must always be a concern, this could have been better provided with a lower fence, located at the top of the bank, as was done in Cliff Goodwin Reserve, further along Eighth Avenue, many years ago.

We believe that residents and visitors should be able to take in some of the best views of the billabong, as captured by council in their land use policy.

Please take time to read the longer article on the Billabong Fence.

In March, SPRA became aware of aware of an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) report Integrity State Corruption Prevention Recommendations report which was authored by the Hon. Ann Vanstone KC, Commissioner, published in September 2023. While the report found that allegations of corruption relating to the encroachment of several private properties onto Council land were not substantiated, page 20 has a section titled Risks associated with enforcement powers

which focused on failures at the City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters.

Two points in the report are worth highlighting as they are pertinent to the fence:

• Accessibility to public land is important. Complaints that residents are unlawfully appropriating public land ought to be promptly investigated and addressed.
• Mistakes of this nature raise suspicion.

On the balance of probability this investigation by ICAC likely refers to 5 River Street, St Peters, where the owners have extended their rear fencing to the top of the bank, thus illegally appropriating Council-owned public for their own exclusive use.

Residents are encourage to read the full ICAC report, then discuss with councillors if the recommendations have been implemented and access to public land restored.

At the 3rd November 2025 Council meeting where the decision about the fence was made, a further report which we understand concerned the billabong, encroachments onto the public land and public access was declared confidential by the Council. The impact of this is that councillors are prevented from discussing the issues with residents.

The ESCOSA Advice to Local Government highlighted a lack of consultation and transparency by the NPSP council. SPRA would argue this is another example of a poor outcome for residents due to a lack of community consultation.

SPRA has always stood ready to discuss matters with the Council in the belief that consultation before a decision is always better that having to express concerns after the event.

Facebook Page

SPRA now has a Facebook page where some matters will be posted and where you can leave comments on items that have been posted.

Please follow on your Facebook app.

Please remember to renew your membership if you haven't already done so.