{"id":962611,"date":"2026-11-13T04:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T04:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/962611\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T04:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T04:54:14","slug":"celebrities-want-adelaide-parklands-better-protected-as-first-trees-felled-for-motogp-circuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/962611\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrities want Adelaide parklands better protected as first trees felled for MotoGP circuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first trees slated for removal to make way for the MotoGP track have been felled, as a group of Australian celebrities say losing mature trees in the Adelaide parklands would be one of the greatest environmental tragedies in the state.<\/p>\n

891 ABC Adelaide reporter Troy Sincock was on the corner of East Terrace and Bartels Road and said dozens of protesters gathered early this morning behind temporary fencing.<\/p>\n

“In the background, the sound of chainsaws in Rymill Park, I then saw workers in high-vis loading large tree boughs into a mulcher,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Police were present as protesters gathered in the parklands on Friday. (891 ABC Adelaide: Troy Sincock)<\/p>\n

He said he saw two protesters sitting in a tree, who were speaking to police.<\/p>\n

“The sound of chainsaw and further mulching was then later heard on Rundle Road but police have been speaking to the protesters in the trees, they remain there seemingly undeterred,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People have been yelling ‘stop the chop’, and cars are beeping their horns as they pass in support.”<\/p>\n

He said police had to hold back protesters at one point to allow two trucks to enter the site.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The SA government says the tree removals are part of preliminary water works. (891 ABC Adelaide: Troy Sincock)<\/p>\n

“The protesters were crying ‘shame, shame, shame,’ they targeted the workers too,” Sincock said.<\/p>\n

The 4.13-kilometre circuit for the 2027 event was proposed to be laid in Victoria Park and cut through the parklands between Wakefield Road and Rundle Road.<\/p>\n

The $96 million project was set to remove nearly 400 trees, including 42 significant trees, with the SA government previously pledging to replace them with mature stock on a 10 to one basis.<\/p>\n

The government said the felling of four trees for preliminary water works today was completed around 8am.<\/p>\n

SA Police said no arrests were made.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A tree stump left behind after preliminary works began this morning in the parklands.\u00a0 (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

Tree chop ‘inexcusable’<\/p>\n

Dozens of Australian celebrities, including Adelaide-born musicians Paul Kelly and Sia, Masterchef judge Poh Ling Yeow, former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett and comedian and actress Magda Szubanski, have called for the removal of trees for the proposed MotoGP circuit to be stopped.<\/p>\n

They have signed an open letter, so far amassing more than 5,000 signatures, asking the SA Premier Peter Malinauskas and the state government to commit to protecting the parklands into the future.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An open letter calling on the SA Premier to halt the removal of trees has so far gained more than 5,000 signatures.\u00a0 (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

Speaking at a later press conference on Friday, Poh said the time to act is now.<\/p>\n

“If the [MotoGP] project goes ahead, it would mark one of the greatest environmental tragedies the state has seen,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“These trees are important, they’re an integral part of our state identity, this is about what we value, who our green spaces belong to and what kind of legacy we want to leave for future generations.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Poh Ling Yeow is among a group of celebrities urging the SA government to better protect the Adelaide parklands. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

“We are absolutely not anti-sport, we understand it has huge community value, it’s about finding a better solution.<\/p>\n

“The fact that they’ve gone the path of least resistance, the laziest, most costly for the morale of the city way, is inexcusable.”<\/p>\n

MotoGP will provide ‘big economic boost’<\/p>\n

Environment Minister Emily Bourke acknowledged everyone has a right to protest but said the MotoGP would bring tourism benefits.<\/p>\n

“It will be a big economic boost for our state \u2026 filling out our hotel rooms, filling out our restaurants, our cafes but also having an event in the city that’s been unlike anywhere else in the world,” she said.<\/p>\n

The minister said the government has completed community consultation, and would invest $15 million to support tree planting in the parklands.<\/p>\n

\"Emily<\/p>\n

Emily Bourke said trees would be replaced on a 10 to 1 basis under the MotoGP proposal. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)<\/p>\n

She said the government had promised to plant more than 3,000 trees to replace about 377 trees set to be axed under the MotoGP proposal.<\/p>\n

Ms Bourke said while the protests this morning were “relatively peaceful”, it was unfortunate to hear reports of workers being verbally abused.<\/p>\n

“The contractors are rocking up to do their job, so what we ask if for people to do it peacefully, respectfully to get your message across. Abuse is not a way to protest,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first trees slated for removal to make way for the MotoGP track have been felled, as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":962612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[317616,64,63,75,5745,1158,2647,822,114785,128,48995,323737,34224,5425],"class_list":["post-962611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-adelaide-parklands","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-motogp","tag-police","tag-protest","tag-racing","tag-removal","tag-science","tag-state-government","tag-stop-the-chop","tag-track","tag-trees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/962612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}