0°C | Wednesday February 11, 2026 
9 February 2026
North Sydney Council has moved to urgently clarify its legal position after the NSW Government signalled it intends to revoke Council’s role as Crown land manager of Cammeray Park and transfer control of the golf course land to Golf NSW.
The motion, carried by Council on Monday night, authorises the Mayor to write immediately to the Minister for Crown Lands urging him to reconsider the proposal, seek urgent advice from Senior Counsel on whether the revocation would be legally valid, lodge a formal submission opposing the move within the 14-day consultation period, and inform the community of Council’s position.
Mayor Zoë Baker told councillors the proposal raised serious procedural and public-interest concerns, including whether the Minister’s powers were being exercised lawfully and whether Council had been afforded procedural fairness.
“There has been no community consultation, and Council has a mere 14 days to respond to this proposal,” Baker said. “The Minister’s media release stated that the NSW Government is ‘in discussions with North Sydney Council’. That statement is incorrect.”
Baker said she had written to the Minister “on no fewer than eight occasions since late 2022” seeking a meeting, but “not once has Council been granted that opportunity”, while Golf NSW had met with the Minister on five occasions since 2023.
She rejected claims that Council intended to remove golf from Cammeray Park, saying neither the Open Space and Recreation Strategy nor its supporting Needs Study proposed an end to golf. “Nowhere does it say that this would exclude golf,” Baker said.
Baker said transferring Crown land management to Golf NSW would “effectively privatise green space that should always remain accessible to the community” and warned the move would set a troubling precedent for local government.
Legal risk and governance
Several councillors focused squarely on the legal risks associated with the proposed revocation.
Cr Shannon Welch said the Minister’s powers were not unlimited and could be challenged if exercised improperly.
“While the Minister has the power to appoint or revoke a Crown land manager, that power is not unlimited,” Welch said. “It must be exercised lawfully, fairly and for the purpose Parliament intended.”
Welch identified multiple potential legal flaws, including whether the revocation would undermine the public-interest purpose of the land, whether Council had been given “a genuine opportunity to respond”, and whether the decision had been effectively predetermined.
“If the real purpose is to make another outcome easier — such as a transfer of control rather than improving land management — that is not a lawful use of the power,” Welch said. “Seeking advice from Senior Counsel is not political or obstructive. It is responsible governance.”
Cr Godfrey Santer also warned the proposal cut across basic standards applied to councils themselves.
“This Council is required to make no policy decisions directly affecting our community without first undertaking substantial consultation,” Santer said. “Yet here we have a proposal to hand over a public facility to private management without any community consultation at all.”
Open space pressure and population growth
A consistent theme across speakers was North Sydney’s acute shortage of open space and the pressure created by state-mandated housing growth.
Santer said North Sydney had “among the lowest proportions of public open space for residents and visitors in metropolitan Sydney” and warned that every remaining parcel of green space was critical to liveability.
Cr MaryAnn Beregi said the issue was not golf but competing community needs in a dense urban area.
“North Sydney is one of the most densely populated areas in NSW and has one of the lowest levels of open space per resident in northern Sydney,” Beregi said. “Every piece of public open space, small or large, must work harder to serve more people.”
Beregi said participation in community sport was growing while space was not. “Every sport is being asked to share and adapt — except golf,” she said, adding that Council had never proposed removing golf from Cammeray Park.
“The real opportunity is to allow the space to evolve so more people can benefit from it without diminishing golf,” she said.
Cr Nicole Antonini said the state government’s proposal ignored the cumulative loss of open space already imposed on the area.
“Our local government area is approximately 10 square kilometres,” Antonini said. “We have one of the lowest green space per-capita ratios in NSW. We have less green space per capita than the City of Sydney.”
Antonini said more than three hectares of Cammeray Park had already been permanently acquired for the Warringah Freeway Upgrade, with “over 3,000 trees” lost in the process.
“With only 14 days’ notice, this government has decided to gift our open space, our Crown land, to a private entity,” she said. “No community consultation. Not even a meeting with our Council.”
Concerns over Golf NSW control
Several councillors raised concerns about transferring Crown land management to a single-interest body.
Santer said Golf NSW was “a private organisation whose stated purpose is to offer guidance to affiliated golf clubs” and questioned what safeguards would exist for broader community access.
“What constraint would there be on Golf NSW erecting fences around the course for stated safety or security reasons?” he asked. “Preventing residents and visitors from walking through the park as they are currently able to do.”
Beregi said appointing a lobbying body as Crown land manager risked narrowing the land’s purpose.
“Golf NSW is an advocacy organisation for a single sport,” she said. “There is nothing wrong with that. But appointing a single-interest body as Crown land manager risks privileging one use over all other uses.”
Cr Chris Holding went further, describing the proposal as an effective land grab.
“In what political landscape are we living where a state Minister, without consultation with Council or the community, can propose the transfer of substantial Crown land to Golf NSW?” Holding said. “Crown land belongs to everyone, and a Labor Minister is effectively seeking to privatise public land.”
Holding argued the state government — not Council — had progressively reduced the size and quality of the course through infrastructure projects.
“If you look at who has carved it up at every opportunity since the 1960s — from 18 holes to nine, and now par-three — it is the state government, not North Sydney Council,” he said.
Dissenting view
Not all councillors supported the motion.
Cr Jessica Keen said she could not support the Mayoral Minute, arguing the lease extension granted to Cammeray Golf Club did not provide sufficient certainty.
“Cammeray Golf Club has for years been asking for an extension of its lease,” Keen said. “It did receive an extension at the end of last year, but it is not long enough — not long enough to provide operating certainty.”
Keen said golf was “a very important part of our community” and questioned why Labor councillors had been surprised by the Minister’s announcement.
“How did you not know this was coming?” she said. “Do you not have direct lines to Ministers?”