Commenting on the story: Questions over second Festival Plaza tower amid high CBD vacancy rates

What a depressing edition of InDaily!

First there’s this abomination on Festival Plaza.

Then there’s the debacle about the Crown and Anchor.

And then the potential horror of Edmund Wright House falling into a run-down state. As David Washinton says in his article: “The Exhibition Building was demolished because it was neglected and became hopelessly degraded. In heritage circles, they call this “demolition by neglect”.

When is our State Government going to show real leadership in the development of Adelaide?

This requires understanding and identifying what is special about Adelaide, and then celebrating and enhancing that special character in future development.

It also requires planning laws to take cultural and social value into account. Nobody will visit Adelaide if it looks the same as every other nondescript high-rise city without character.

Please stop destroying the character and heritage of our beautiful city. – Barbara Fergusson

Old “cranes on the skyline” thinking. Do we aspire to be the Dubai of the south? Surely we can do better than this.

Our future lies in capitalising on the head start we have in the renewable energy space, thanks to the Rann Government. – Timothy Jackson

If this had been announced before the Dunstan by-election, Labor would have lost.

It shows who really runs this State – it’s the developers!

C and D office space can be upgraded but now will probably be left to rot because the demand has been met by this building on community land.

Bring on the Teals at the next election. Many will not vote Labor after this betrayal. – Anne Moran  

Commenting on the opinion piece: Adelaide can’t allow this treasure to crumble away

What a great spot to house a major arts company! – John Irving

Commenting on the story: Adelaide City Council backs compulsory voting

While there is every right to encourage enrolment amongst those within a voter franchise, it is curious why international students (one-month resident non-citizens) were granted a right to vote and in whose political interest that occurred.

There are far better ways to support international students and non-permanent residents than granting them a quadrennial local vote.

Interestingly, the “Local Government Participation and Elections Review Discussion Paper” compares compulsion, but does not compare the local government voting franchise of other states, perhaps because of disparate confusing complexities.

The Adelaide City Council report omits to mention that citizenship is commonly a local government criterion in England and Northern Ireland, and for most local elections in the USA.

A non-citizen who rents is no lesser than one who has a property interest. They are taxed by state and national laws regardless of nationality or property, yet neither can vote in state or national elections.

That a non-citizen, or a non-resident citizen, may own as little as 1% of a property, ought not be a criterion, nor whatever might be their respective interest in creating social, personal, or environmental prosperity.

The property franchise is a relic of a bygone era. Queensland removed it for local government in 1920 and history can judge why this state still has it in 2024. – Elbert Brooks

Does the state government realise that foreign student education in Australia will likely collapse once the tech giants team up with prestigious universities in the US to offer their course online.

Those online courses will be much cheaper than students having to travel to Australia and pay high fees and for 3 or 4 years of accommodation in one of those pokey city towers. – Phil Sykes