08/06/2026
“It’s sure to attract visitors from interstate and overseas,” Premier Peter Malinauskas told Forbes in December 2025.
But how long will they stay, and what else are visitors coming to Australia to see?
Australia offers something far rarer.
This is where people can see species found nowhere else in the world, living wild within a capital city.
Ask tourists what they hope to see when they come to Australia and high on that list is a koala.
Whatever else they are here for… a koala.
During last year’s Fringe, I spoke with a Canadian performer before their show and they asked: “Where do I go to see a koala?”
And the remarkable thing about Adelaide is that the answer is not only a national park.
Koalas still exist in suburban wildlife corridors and green spaces. Along sections of the Torrens Linear Park. Around Ingle Farm and Para Hills.
Adelaide still has something many cities around the world have already lost, the ability to encounter wildlife within a city.
Supporters will argue the race will bring tourism and economic benefit.
Maybe it will.
But wildlife is already one of South Australia's greatest attractions, and once habitat is lost, it is not easily replaced.
In the next 18 months, significant changes will occur to prepare the circuit for the 2027 event.
For a wildlife rescue organisation, that raises a different question.
What value do we place on the mature trees, green spaces and wildlife corridors that make Adelaide unique?
Adelaide is still a city within a park.
But if we keep removing parkland it won't be.
A race lasts a weekend.
The consequences may last far longer.
Protect the legacy of a city within a park.
https://www.save-our-wildlife.org.au
