Background

Friends of Federal Fairways unites environmentalists, Hughes and Garran residents, Federal Golf Club members, recreational users of Red Hill and other concerned citizens to oppose the proposed residential development (over-55s retirement village) on the 6th and 7th fairways of Federal Golf Club.

We oppose the development because:

  • It will result in the loss of/significant impact on known critical nesting habitat for the endangered Gang- gang cockatoo and impact other native species; READ MORE
  • It will result in the loss of green open space and restrict public access currently permitted under the Crown Lease; 
  • It will impact significantly on neighbouring residents and people who visit Red Hill for recreational uses (pedestrians and cyclists); 
  • The golf course itself will have to undergo significant alterations to accommodate the development; READ MORE
  • The need for the development has not been adequately demonstrated. READ MORE

Key points

  • The development of an over-55s village in this location was made possible by the passage of Territory Plan Variation 384 through the ACT Legislative Assembly on 9 June 2023.
  • TPV384 followed the notification of Draft Variation 384.
  • In spite of considerable controversy about the development, and multiple opposing submissions the Legislative Assembly Planning Committee decided not to have an inquiry into DV384.
  • DV384 was essentially rubber-stamped due to the existence of the Red Hill Integrated Plan (RHIP) published in June 2021 (with a draft version notified in 2019).
  • The RHIP was an attempt to establish a framework to respond to Federal Golf Club’s two decades of attempts to develop its land for financial gain.
  • A resolution of the Legislative Assembly on 25 October 2017 called on the Government to “limit development to proposals that have been developed in close consultation with the community and have a reasonable likelihood of majority community support.”
    The Government conducted a very limited, invitation-only process of community ‘engagement’ in development of the RHIP and no evidence of “majority community support” has ever been produced.
  • Neither the requirement for “close consultation with the community” nor “majority community support” have been achieved for the proposed development.
  • Federal Golf Club has long claimed it is financially unsustainable unless it develops its land. This claim has never been properly/publicly tested. Accounting and economic analyses of the club’s annual financial statements illustrates poor financial management and a flawed operating model; however, with relatively minor changes it could operate profitably.
  • The passage of TPV384 paves the way for deconcessionalisation of a portion of the Club’s concessional Crown Lease and the commercial development of land granted to a community organisation which has benefited from concessional status (paying rates at a fraction of the market).
  • The RHIP (and subsequently TPV384) moved the Club’s previous nominated site for the residential development from being close to the clubhouse to a completely isolated site on the southern portion of the golf course.
  • This siting requires 12 of the 18 holes on the course to be altered to accommodate the residential development.
  • The passage of TPV384 also has the effect of changing the proposed development from Impact Track to Merit Track for the purposes of planning assessment, thus avoiding the need for an Environmental Impact Statement.
  • The environmental studies that have been done are either rapid assessments or are flawed yet have apparently satisfied a number of authorities including removing the need for Commonwealth EPBC
  • There has been no environmental assessment done on the Golden Sun Moth.
  • The developer has done no archaeological or ethnographic studies.
  • Federal Golf Club members have not been given an opportunity to vote on the development as proposed currently. A previous vote in 2016 was for a smaller development in a different location with far less impact on the golf course itself and a range of benefits which are no longer on offer.
  • Many of the features of the original proposal that were promised to members and the local community (such as a new clubhouse and public hydrotherapy pool) will not be built under the new arrangements.
  • Federal Golf Club has a Memorandum of Understanding with the developer MBark which it has refused to make public, in spite of numerous requests by Club members.