29 June 2026
North Sydney Council has foreshadowed possible legal action against the NSW Government after mayor Zoë Baker accused Lands Minister Steve Kamper of setting a “troubling precedent” by placing part of Cammeray Park under the control of Golf NSW.
A mayoral minute put to Monday night’s council meeting called for further advice from senior counsel on whether the removal of council as Crown land manager of Cammeray Golf Course was legally valid, and whether there were grounds to restrain, prevent or challenge the decision.
If such grounds exist, the motion authorises council to commence proceedings against the minister’s decision.
The dispute centres on the Cammeray and Green Park Reserve, a 12.7 hectare Crown reserve that has long been under council’s care, control and management. It is the largest single parcel of open space in the North Sydney local government area.
Baker said the issue had to be seen against the backdrop of North Sydney’s chronic shortage of open space, high population density and the further pressure expected from state housing targets and low and mid-rise housing reforms.
“Every square metre of public open space is precious and even more critical to liveability,” she said.
The mayor said Transport for NSW had already permanently resumed more than 1.5 hectares of the reserve for the Warringah Freeway Upgrade, with the final loss of public land from the Western Harbour Tunnel works still unclear.
Baker said Kamper first announced in February that he intended to revoke council’s care, control and management of Cammeray Park and transfer the role to Golf NSW.
She said there had been no community consultation and council was given only 14 days to respond.
The mayor also criticised the minister for meeting with Golf NSW and Willoughby MP Tim James, who is patron of Cammeray Golf Club, while declining to meet with council despite repeated requests.
“Records demonstrate that the minister met with the patron of Cammeray Golf Club, State Member for the seat of Willoughby Tim James, MP on at least five separate occasions with Golf NSW,” Baker said in her mayoral minute.
“Yet, the minister did not meet with me or council following at least eight written requests to do so.”
Kamper announced on 5 June that Golf NSW had been appointed Crown land manager of Cammeray Golf Course.
Baker said the decision appointed “a single purpose interest group with less than transparent governance arrangements” as Crown land manager without community consultation.
She said it deprived the North Sydney community of the opportunity to plan for multi-purpose use of the land consistent with Crown land management principles, and to support “community demand and traditional informal access to the site”.
Councillors lined up in support of the mayoral minute, arguing the decision raised broader questions about public access to Crown land.
Cr Angus Hoy said council had responsibly managed the land for almost four decades and described the minister’s decision as “unprecedented, unjustified and deeply troubling”.
He said the state government had given greater access to special interests than to the community’s elected representatives.
“The community was shut out and council was given a mere 14 days to respond,” he said.
Cr Jessica Keen said the issue had arisen because Cammeray Golf Club wanted certainty over its lease and questioned why Labor councillors had not been able to use their relationship with the minister to avoid council being “blindsided”.
Cr MaryAnn Beregi rejected the suggestion that the golf club lacked certainty, saying council had recently extended its lease for three years.
She said it was “astonishing” that a golf body would be handed management of land used by a local golf club, and said the decision left other sporting users without access to scarce open space.
“They’ve put up fencing. Only golf can be played there. Everyone else is kept out and they have no accountability to the community in which they operate,” she said.
Beregi said the precedent was “dangerous” if Crown land management was shifted away from community oversight and towards private or single-interest bodies.
Cr James Spenceley said the issue was not whether golf was currently the best use of the land, but whether a single-use body should administer public open space.
“This is a ridiculous decision to apply a single-use body as administrator over land,” he said.
“It is by no means a solution to maximising the use of our green space.”
Cr Carr opposed the mayoral minute, saying that while the principle of preserving green space and using it in varied ways was sound, she did not support the recommended actions.
“I do not support the actions recommended,” she said. “I am not very keen to have funds allocated to legal cases taking it into court. Once we get the legal advice … I suggest it comes back to council before we decide to take any legal action.”
Baker responded that council had a legal budget for public interest litigation, including defending planning controls or standing up for the community on the management of Crown land.
She pointed to past council legal fights over the MLC Building and the floating dry dock at Berry’s Bay as examples of council defending public purposes and winning.
The mayoral minute was carried.
It also commits council to retain an item in its 2026-27 operational plan to “continue to advocate for consolidation, care and control to council of all Crown land within Cammeray Park”.