Callan Park (Special Provisions) Act 2002

The Act organises governance and land-use at Callan Park around a small number of interlocking concepts. Each is defined or implemented by specific provisions.

• Callan Park. The Act applies to the land at Rozelle comprised in Lot 1, Deposited Plan 807747, including fixtures (s 3). That legal definition limits the scope of the Act to that cadastral parcel and its permanent structures.

• Public ownership and prohibition on alienation. The Act expressly prohibits sale, transfer, lease or other alienation and mortgages or encumbrances of Callan Park except as the Act provides (s 5(1)). The Governor may, by proclamation, vest Callan Park in a statutory Crown body subject to Ministerial direction (s 5(2)). The prohibition is subject to a tightly circumscribed mechanism for change of title and to subsections that permit particular transactions authorised elsewhere in the Act.

• Leases, licences and management agreements. Leases or licences over buildings, parts of buildings or land within Callan Park may only be granted with the consent of the Minister (s 6(1)). The Act caps terms: relevant heritage premises (Kirkbride, Broughton Hall, Convalescent Cottages) may have terms up to 50 years; other premises are generally capped at 10 years (s 6(2),(9)). Longer terms are possible only after parliamentary tabling of notice and either affirmative resolutions or non-disallowance within 15 sitting days (s 6(3)). Management of care, control and management can be contracted out only to the local council or a trust prescribed by regulation and subject to the objects of the Act (s 6(4)).

• Open tender for longer grants. The Trust is subject to a statutory procurement constraint: it must not grant a lease, or a licence of 10 years or more, unless the grant was the subject of an open tender process (s 6A). That is a procedural constraint on the Trust’s ability to conclude long term commercial arrangements for use of the Park.

• Development controls and consent authority. The council for the local government area is the consent authority for development within Callan Park, regardless of other Acts or environmental planning instruments (s 7(2)). Development may only be for specified purposes (arts and culture, community, education, food and drink, health) and only on a not-for-profit basis (s 7(3)). Certain uses are expressly prohibited: function centres, hotels and retirement villages (s 7(3A)). Buildings must remain within the footprints or envelopes of buildings that existed immediately before the Act, subject to limited exceptions for accessibility, safety, amenities and temporary structures (s 7(5)-(5A)). Development consent cannot be granted where the result would be less open space than existed immediately before commencement or would increase the total floor area of all existing buildings (s 7(6)). Development must not adversely affect three named gardens (s 7(7)).

• Consultation and community trustee boards. If a community trustee board exists, the Trust must consult with it and have regard to its advice or recommendations (s 8(1)-(3)). The Trust must comply with the Minister‑approved consultation and engagement framework when engaging with the community, users, the community trustee board and other stakeholders (s 8A).

• Heritage and other statutory overlays. The Act does not remove the application of the Heritage Act 1977 to Callan Park (s 9). The Act therefore sits alongside heritage regulation, not in place of it.

• Regulatory and savings mechanisms. The Governor may make regulations consistent with the Act (s 10). The Act preserves easements, leases and licences in force immediately before commencement, and permits the exercise of options under such leases (s 11).

These concepts together constitute a regime that privileges public ownership, restricts alienation, channels development into community uses on a not-for-profit basis, controls contractual terms and processes for the Trust and Minister, and preserves heritage and open space through substantive planning limits and procedural requirements.

The Act allocates rights and duties among a defined set of actors. The principal affected parties are the Crown (through the Minister and the Governor), the Trust (Greater Sydney Parklands Trust), the local council, any community trustee board, prospective lessees or licensees, managers and custodians, and users of the Park including the local community.

• The Crown and Minister. The Minister has decisive control over whether leases, licences and management contracts may be granted (s 6(1)). The Governor may vest the Park in a statutory Crown body subject to Ministerial control (s 5(2)). The Minister also approves the consultation framework that the Trust must follow (s 8A). When the Minister consents to leases or management contracts, the Minister must ensure public notice and have regard to submissions and publish reasons (s 6(6)-(6A)). Thus the Minister is the gatekeeper for disposals and certain uses.

• The Trust. The Greater Sydney Parklands Trust (the Trust) exercises functions in relation to Callan Park and must observe consultation requirements with community trustee boards and the approved engagement framework (ss 8-8A). Section 6A places a specific procedural restriction on the Trust when it proposes to grant leases or licences of 10 years or more, requiring an open tender process. The Trust therefore bears operational responsibilities and procurement constraints.

• Local council. The council for the local government area containing Callan Park is the consent authority for development applications on the land (s 7(2)). That displaces other potential consent authorities and environmental planning instruments. The council will therefore be the decision maker on development consent and must take the objects of the Act into consideration, in addition to statutory planning considerations (s 7(8)).

• Community trustee boards and stakeholders. If a community trustee board is established for Callan Park, the Trust must consult with it and have regard to its advice on items such as the plan of management and proposed facilities and services (s 8(2)-(3)). The Trust must also comply with an approved consultations and engagement framework when interacting with the community, visitors, the community trustee board and other stakeholders (s 8A). Those provisions embed local participation rights in the Trust’s decision making.

• Prospective lessees, licensees and managers. Private parties seeking to lease, license, or manage land or buildings within Callan Park are directly affected. Leases and licences require Ministerial consent (s 6(1)), must respect term caps (s 6(2)), must not authorise prohibited uses (s 6(5)), and where long-term must be subject to open tender if granted by the Trust (s 6A). The public notice and reasons publication obligations (s 6(6)-(6A)) create additional procedural steps before consent may be granted.

• Heritage and community users. The Act protects heritage and open space values by reference to the Heritage Act and by imposing planning controls (s 9; s 7). Community users and recreational visitors are affected because the objects of the Act require public access to open space and recreational use (s 4(c)), and development decisions must preserve that access and open space (s 7(6)).

• Holders of pre-existing interests. Existing easements, leases and licences are preserved by the savings provision (s 11). Those parties retain their rights and can exercise options under existing leases.

Who pays and who decides. The Act places decision-making power primarily in the Minister, the Trust and the local council. Costs and burdens fall on prospective private operators seeking leases or development (they must comply with tender, public notice and consent procedures and term limits), on the Trust and the council (they must follow consultation frameworks and statutory duties), and on the Minister’s office which must process consents and publish reasons. The Act does not create an express compensation regime for denied proposals, but it preserves rights under the Land Acquisition legislation for substratum acquisition (s 5A).

The Act both creates duties and preserves rights for specific actors. Below are the main operative duties and entitlements, with section references and the practical implications of each.

• Duty to keep Callan Park in public ownership, subject to limited exceptions. The sale, transfer, lease, mortgage or other alienation of Callan Park, or parts of it, is prohibited except as provided by the Act (s 5(1)). That is a direct statutory restriction on property transactions involving the Park. The Governor may vest the Park in a statutory Crown body by proclamation, subject to Ministerial direction and control (s 5(2)). Practical implication: ordinary market sale or disposal routes are not available without express statutory authorisation.

• Right to acquire substratum for public purpose. Despite the prohibition in s 5, the substratum or a part of Callan Park may be acquired for a public purpose under the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 (s 5A(1)-(2)). Practical implication: the Crown retains compulsory acquisition powers in respect of subsurface interests, with the Land Acquisition Act defining "public purpose".

• Duty to obtain Ministerial consent for leases, licences and management contracts. Any lease or licence for buildings or land within Callan Park requires the Minister’s consent (s 6(1)). Contracts to manage care and control may be entered only to the local council or a prescribed trust and only with the Minister’s consent (s 6(4)). Practical implication: private operators cannot contract directly for long-term use without Ministerial approval.

• Limits on lease and licence terms and parliamentary oversight. The Act limits terms to 50 years for specified "relevant premises" and otherwise to 10 years (s 6(2),(9)). Terms beyond 10 years require a notice tabled in each House of Parliament, and either affirmative resolutions or failure to disallow within 15 sitting days (s 6(3)). Practical implication: long-term commercialisation of assets is subject to additional parliamentary scrutiny and potential disallowance.

• Duty to follow public notice, consultation and reasons processes. Before granting consent under s 6, the Minister must publish notice in a manner likely to reach local members of the public, consider written comments received within 30 days, and publish reasons for the decision to grant consent in a way likely to reach local members of the public (s 6(6)). The notice must include a summary of main terms and related proposals to deal in land (s 6(6A)). Practical implication: there is a transparency and community engagement duty prior to consent.

• Duty of the Trust to use open tender for long leases and licences. The Trust must not grant a lease, or a licence with a term of 10 years or more, unless the grant has been the subject of an open tender process (s 6A). Practical implication: procurement procedures apply as a precondition to long-term dispositions by the Trust.

• Duty to ensure development aligns with restricted purposes and not-for-profit requirement. Development is limited to specified community purposes and must be carried out on a not-for-profit basis (s 7(3)). Certain uses are prohibited (function centres, hotels, retirement villages) (s 7(3A)). Practical implication: private commercial development is materially constrained. Note that development and lease/licence regimes are distinct: development requires consent from council; lease/licence requires Ministerial consent and tendering where applicable.

• Duty to maintain existing footprints and open space. Buildings must not be erected outside existing footprints or envelopes, with limited exceptions for accessibility, safety, amenities and temporary structures (ss 7(5)-(5A)). Consent must not be granted for development that reduces open space below the pre‑commencement level or increases the total floor area of all buildings that existed immediately before commencement (s 7(6)). Practical implication: caps on built form and loss of open space are statutory constraints.

• Duty to consult and have regard to community trustee board advice. If a community trustee board exists, the Trust must consult it and have regard to its advice in relation to the plan of management and local matters (s 8(2)-(3)). The Trust must also comply with the Minister‑approved consultation and engagement framework (s 8A). Practical implication: the Trust’s decision making is required to be consultative and responsive to local advisory input.

• Right to preserve heritage obligations. The Act expressly preserves the applicability of the Heritage Act 1977 to Callan Park (s 9). That leaves heritage regulatory duties in place for owners, managers and proponents.

• Right preserved for existing interests. The Act does not affect easements, leases or licences in force immediately prior to commencement, nor options provided in such leases (s 11). Practical implication: pre-existing contractual rights are grandfathered.

Collectively, these duties create a system of ministerial and Trust-centric approval gates, parliamentary oversight on longer terms, council development consent with substantive restrictions, and consultative obligations. Rights are preserved for existing holders of interests, but new private rights are tightly circumscribed by term caps, tender requirements and the not-for-profit development constraint.

The Act itself contains no express criminal offences, monetary penalties or administrative sanctions specified within its text. It enforces compliance through statutory prohibitions, consent and approval gates, consultation obligations and limits on permitted development and disposals. The enforcement architecture is therefore largely procedural and regulatory rather than penal. The legal consequences available under the Act are derived from the combination of its substantive prohibitions, the requirement for consents and external statutory regimes that remain applicable.

• No express offence provisions. The Act does not include a section creating offences, fines or other specified penalties. There is no express sanctioning mechanism within the Act text for, for example, unauthorised leases or unauthorised development.

• De facto enforcement through consent regimes. The Act makes certain activities unlawful without consent or authorisation: sale, transfer, lease or other alienation is "prohibited, except as provided by this Act" (s 5(1)); leases and licences generally require the Minister's consent (s 6(1)); and development requires consent from the local council with substantive constraints (s 7). The practical enforcement mechanism is therefore denial of consent and the ability of consent authorities under other planning laws to refuse development applications that do not comply with the statutory regime.

• Interaction with other statutory enforcement mechanisms. The Act preserves the operation of the Heritage Act 1977 in relation to Callan Park (s 9). That Act contains its own enforcement mechanisms and offence provisions, so heritage non‑compliance can be addressed under that regime. The Act’s s 7(2) designation of the council as consent authority means the council’s powers under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and related planning instruments will be the practical vehicle for enforcing development controls, subject to the modifications the Act makes. The Act also provides regulation-making powers (s 10) which could create regulatory standards backed by the general subordinate legislation enforcement frameworks referenced (s 10(2)).

• Procedural transparency as compliance tool. The Minister's obligations to publish notice of proposed leases, to have regard to comments, and to publish reasons for consenting (s 6(6)-(6A)) create transparency that shapes compliance and enables public scrutiny. Such scrutiny may prompt administrative review or political accountability even if the Act itself does not provide penalties.

• Savings and legal continuity. The Act preserves existing interests by saving easements, leases and licences in force immediately before commencement and permitting exercise of options under such leases (s 11). This removes immediate conflict with parties holding pre-existing rights and reduces litigation risk in respect of those pre‑existing instruments.

In sum, the Act relies on preventive controls and statutory gatekeeping,Ministerial consent, council development control, tendering processes for long-term grants and heritage regulation,rather than express penal sanctions within its own text. The absence of internal penalty clauses means enforcement will be exercised through the denial of consents and through the application of other laws that contain express sanctioning powers.

The Act is structured to operate alongside, and in some cases to modify or displace, other statutory regimes. It both cross-references other Acts and sets specific interplays that will govern consent, planning and acquisition questions.

• Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The Act adopts the meaning of "development" and "environmental planning instrument" from the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 by reference in the definitions (s 3). Significantly, the Act makes the council the consent authority for development applications relating to land in Callan Park "despite any other Act or any environmental planning instrument" (s 7(2)). That is a legislative displacement: where other planning instruments or Acts might otherwise determine the consent authority, the local council is the authority for Callan Park development applications. Additionally, s 7(8) requires the consent authority to consider the Act's objects in determining applications, alongside "all other matters that are required to be taken into consideration" under the planning law.

• Heritage Act 1977. The Act expressly preserves the application of the Heritage Act 1977 to Callan Park (s 9). Therefore, heritage approvals, permits, and any restrictions or penalties under the Heritage Act continue to apply. The Act does not override or limit heritage obligations.

• Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991. Section 5A permits acquisition of the substratum of Callan Park, or of a part of Callan Park, for a public purpose, and defines "public purpose" by reference to the Land Acquisition Act (s 5A(1)-(2)). This provides a route for acquisition under that Act even though s 5 otherwise prohibits alienation.

• Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Act 2022. The Act uses terms defined in the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Act 2022 by cross-reference (s 3), and obliges the Trust to consult with any community trustee board and to have regard to its advice (s 8). Section 8A requires compliance with the Minister-approved consultation and engagement framework established under the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Act 2022. The Act therefore embeds Trust governance and the Trust’s approved frameworks into the Callan Park regime.

• Interpretation Act 1987. Section 6(7)-(8) modifies the operation of sections 40 and 41 of the Interpretation Act 1987 in relation to regulations that prescribe trusts for management, by changing the disallowance timing and notice requirements. This is a procedural interaction that affects parliamentary oversight of regulations under this Act.

• Subordinate Legislation Act 1989. The Governor’s regulation‑making power under s 10 is expressly linked to the operation of sections 5 and 6 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989 (s 10(2)). That links the Act’s subordinate instruments to the state’s delegated legislation procedure and scrutiny frameworks.

• Other environmental planning instruments and policy. The Act excludes State Environmental Planning Policy No 5,Housing for Older People or People with a Disability from applying to Callan Park (s 7(4)). That is an explicit carve-out of a specific SEPP. Conversely, the Act imposes its own development purpose and not-for-profit constraints (s 7(3)), which will interact with local environmental plans and development control plans because the council is the consent authority and must apply the objects and constraints of the Act when considering applications (s 7(8)).

Practical consequence. The Act functions as a targeted overlay within the broader regulatory environment. It displaces other consent allocation rules for Callan Park, preserves and invokes heritage and land acquisition regimes, and ties regulatory rule‑making to the state’s subordinate legislation processes. Users and decision makers will need to apply the Act alongside the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act and other instruments, while respecting the explicit exceptions and cross‑references the Act creates.

The Act as presented contains embedded amendment annotations identifying changes made by subsequent statutes. Those annotations describe which sections have been amended, substituted or inserted and by which amending Acts and schedules. The Act commenced on the date of assent (s 2). The recorded amendments in the text are these.

• 2018 amendments. Section 6 was amended by an instrument identified as "Am 2018 No 25, Sch 2.2 [1]-[3]". The annotation to s 6 indicates changes to the leases, licences and management agreements provisions occurred in 2018. The text of s 6 includes material that reflects that amendment, for example the explicit listing of relevant premises and procedural constraints.

• 2021 amendments. Section 5A was inserted by "Ins 2021 No 44, Sch 1". The new section provides an exception permitting acquisition of substratum or parts of Callan Park for a public purpose, and links "public purpose" to the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991.

• 2022 amendments. Multiple provisions were inserted, substituted or otherwise amended in 2022 under "No 9, Sch 5.1". The amendment notes accompanying the Act identify the following changes:

  • s 3: Amendments to definitions (s 3: Am 2022 No 9, Sch 5.1[1]).
  • s 6: Further amendments (s 6: Am 2022 No 9, Sch 5.1[2]-[5]).
  • s 6A: Section 6A was inserted in 2022 (s 6A: Ins 2022 No 9, Sch 5.1[6]). This inserted the open tender requirement for the Trust before granting leases or licences of 10 years or more.
  • s 7: Amendments to development provisions (s 7: Am 2022 No 9, Sch 5.1[7]-[10]).
  • s 8: Section 8 was substituted in 2022 (s 8: Subst 2022 No 9, Sch 5.1[11]).
  • s 8A: Section 8A was inserted in 2022 (s 8A: Ins 2022 No 9, Sch 5.1[11]).

The amendment notes therefore show that the Act has been materially updated in recent years to add procurement constraints (open tender), to modernise governance language and consultation obligations, and to clarify definitions and development controls. The insertion of s 5A in 2021 created a narrow exception to the alienation prohibition by permitting substratum acquisition for a public purpose. The effect of these amendments is that the Act’s current text reflects a layering of original 2002 provisions with subsequent amendments through 2018, 2021 and 2022.

No other amendment history is recorded within the supplied text. The Act’s regulation-making power (s 10) and notes about the operation of interpretation and subordinate legislation provisions show that some implementation detail can be prescribed by regulation subject to the usual statutory processes and parliamentary oversight modifications referenced at s 6(7)-(8) and s 10(2).

The supplied Act text contains no cases, judicial decisions, or references to litigation. There are no judicial interpretations, reported disputes or litigation notes included in the statute as provided. The Act does not itself name any court proceedings or decisions.

Because the Act contains detailed administrative and procedural requirements,Ministerial consent for leases and licences (s 6), council as consent authority for development (s 7(2)), obligations to publish decisions and reasons (s 6(6)-(6A)), and preservation of the Heritage Act (s 9),it is possible in practice that disputes might arise concerning the exercise of those powers or the scope of prohibitions. However, the supplied text does not record such litigation nor cite any cases.

For practitioners seeking litigation history, the statutory text supplied should be treated as a primary source document that does not include judicial gloss. Any court authorities, administrative review decisions, or tribunal determinations that interpret the Act or its interaction with the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, the Heritage Act 1977, or the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Act 2022 are not present in the supplied material. Consequently, no litigated interpretations can be derived from the Act itself as provided here.

The Act contains several provisions where practitioners, custodians and proponents commonly encounter practical friction points. These are not value judgements. They identify areas where statutory mechanics create particular constraints, procedural traps or points of coordination that require careful handling.

• Broad prohibition on alienation with limited statutory exceptions. Section 5(1) prohibits sale, transfer, lease or other alienation and any mortgage or encumbrance of Callan Park, "except as provided by this Act". The exception is narrow. Practitioners should not assume that standard conveyancing or long-term commercialisation routes are available. Leases and licences are only permissible under s 6 with Ministerial consent and subject to term caps and other requirements. Any proposal to alter ownership must be traced to a specific provision such as s 5(2) (proclamation vesting) or s 5A (substratum acquisition).

• Dual consent and procurement constraints for long-term leases. Section 6(1) requires the Minister's consent for leases and licences, while s 6A obliges the Trust not to grant leases or licences of 10 years or more unless the grant was subject to open tender. Where the Trust seeks to grant a long-term interest, both the Trust’s obligation to tender (s 6A) and the Minister’s consent requirement (s 6(1)) must be satisfied. Practitioners should plan for both processes and the possibility of additional parliamentary steps under s 6(3) for terms exceeding statutory caps.

• Parliamentary oversight on terms beyond statutory caps. Section 6(2) caps terms at 50 years (for specified relevant premises) and otherwise 10 years. Section 6(3) allows longer terms only after tabling of notice and either affirmative resolutions by both Houses or non-disallowance within 15 sitting days. That introduces a parliamentary timing risk and political oversight step into proposals for long-term rights.

• Potential tension between lease/licence commercialisation and development not‑for‑profit requirement. Section 6(5A) expressly permits leases, licences or contracts for arts or cultural events, "including on a commercial basis", while s 7(3) requires development for the enumerated purposes to be on a not-for-profit basis and not commercial. The Act therefore permits some commercial activity through the lease/licence route for events but restricts development for specified purposes to not-for-profit operations. Practitioners should not assume that a commercially‑oriented use that is the subject of a lease or licence will automatically be compliant with the development constraints; separate consents and the legislative interplay must be tested in each case.

• Definition limit and land extent. Callan Park is defined as a specific lot including fixtures (s 3). Any proposal touching adjacent land must be checked for whether it sits inside that cadastral parcel. The notice requirement under s 6(6A) requires disclosure of related proposals "to deal in land located in Callan Park of which the Minister is aware", highlighting the need for careful spatial delineation.

• Council as consent authority despite other instruments. Section 7(2) makes the local council the consent authority "despite any other Act or any environmental planning instrument". That can change the expected decision maker in development disputes and requires applicants to engage with the council rather than other State authorities that might otherwise be involved.

• Substantive caps on footprint and floor area. Sections 7(5), 7(5A) and 7(6) prevent erection of buildings outside existing footprints except for limited exceptions, and prohibit consent that would reduce open space or increase the total floor area of buildings that existed immediately before commencement. These are tight substantive constraints that may preclude standard adaptive reuse schemes that involve expansions.

• Consultation duties are consultative not directive. The Trust must "consult with" and "have regard to" a community trustee board and to stakeholder input (s 8(2)-(3); s 8A). Those statutory duties oblige consideration but do not, in the text provided, convert the board’s advice into binding veto power. Practitioners should factor the difference between consultative duties and binding approvals into project planning.

• No express penalties in the Act. The absence of internal penalty provisions (see Penalties and enforcement) means enforcement will operate by denial of consent and by other statutory regimes. That may complicate remedies and compliance strategies and means administrative processes are the primary enforcement lever.

• Regulations and modified parliamentary disallowance timing. Section 6(7)-(8) modifies the operation of disallowance under the Interpretation Act 1987 for regulations prescribing trusts under s 6, and s 10(2) ties regulations to the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989. These procedural modifications can alter the timing and mechanics of parliamentary oversight of delegated instruments and need to be tracked by practitioners relying on regulatory prescriptions.

• Savings leave existing arrangements intact. Section 11 preserves pre-existing easements, leases and licences including options. That creates coexistence of old private contractual rights with new statutory constraints, and may require nuanced reconciliation of rights and obligations when new management regimes or planning controls are applied.

Each of these points is rooted in the specific provision references supplied in the Act and should be examined early in planning, procurement and consenting exercises for any activity at Callan Park.

Compliance under the Act is procedural and substantive. It requires navigating Ministerial consent processes, open tender obligations for the Trust, council development consent with strict substantive constraints, consultation obligations, and applicable heritage and acquisition regimes. Practical steps and checklists are below, mapped to the statutory provisions.

1. Confirm the site and scope. Verify that the land in question is Callan Park as defined in s 3, namely Lot 1, Deposited Plan 807747 and included fixtures. Any proposal that involves land outside that lot may fall outside the Act’s special rules.

2. Determine whether the proposed activity is a lease, licence, contract to manage, or development.

   • If proposing a lease or licence of land or a building or part of a building within Callan Park, s 6(1) mandates Ministerial consent.
   • If proposing management of care and control, s 6(4) allows contracting only to the local council or a trust prescribed by regulation, and only with Ministerial consent.
   • If proposing development, the local council is the consent authority under s 7(2), and development must comply with the purposes and not‑for‑profit requirement under s 7(3).

3. Check term limits and procurement rules.

   • For standard leases/licences, check term caps in s 6(2): relevant premises up to 50 years, otherwise generally 10 years.
   • For proposed terms exceeding 10 years (other than for relevant premises where 50 years applies), comply with parliamentary tabling procedures under s 6(3): table notice in each House, and either obtain affirmative resolutions or ensure no disallowance within 15 sitting days.
   • If the Trust is the party seeking to grant a lease or a licence with a term of 10 years or more, ensure an open tender process has occurred as required by s 6A.

4. Prepare for Ministerial procedural obligations.

   • Before granting consent under s 6, the Minister must publish notice of the proposal in a manner calculated to bring it to the attention of the locality (s 6(6)(a)), have regard to written comments received within 30 days (s 6(6)(b)), and publish reasons for the decision (s 6(6)(c)). The notice must summarise main terms and any related proposals to deal in Callan Park land (s 6(6A)). Practically, prepare public notices, stakeholder consultation materials and a summary of key contractual terms for publication.

5. Secure development consent from the council where required.

   • Lodge a development application with the local council in accordance with the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act when the proposal constitutes "development" as defined. Remember the council is the consent authority for Callan Park (s 7(2)). Ensure the proposal is for one of the permitted purposes in s 7(3) and that the use is not prohibited by s 7(3A).
   • Confirm the not-for-profit requirement in s 7(3). If the proposal involves commercial elements, work out whether it falls within the s 6(5A) exception for arts and cultural events and whether separate development consent is required.

6. Respect footprint, open space and heritage constraints.

   • Ensure that new buildings are within existing footprints or envelopes or are limited to the exceptions in s 7(5A) for accessibility, safety, amenities and temporary structures. Do not plan expansions that would increase the total floor area of the buildings that existed immediately before commencement or that would reduce open space below the pre-commencement level (s 7(5)-(6)).
   • Check whether works affect the three named gardens (Broughton Hall Garden, Charles Moore Garden, Kirkbride Garden) and draft mitigation or design measures since development must not adversely affect those gardens (s 7(7)).
   • Obtain any necessary consents under the Heritage Act 1977 because the Act preserves its application to Callan Park (s 9).

7. Engage with community trustee boards and comply with consultation frameworks.

   • If a community trustee board exists, engage it early. The Trust must consult with and have regard to the board’s advice on plan of management, services and matters of local relevance (s 8(2)-(3)). The Trust must also comply with the Minister‑approved consultation and engagement framework in the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Act 2022 (s 8A).
   • For Ministerial consents under s 6, ensure publication and consideration of public comments as required (s 6(6)).

8. For Trust-related grants, plan procurement and tendering.

   • If the Trust is to grant a lease or licence of 10 years or more, conduct an open tender process as required by s 6A. Document procurement steps and retain tender records demonstrating compliance.

9. Check regulatory instruments and prescribed trusts.

   • If proposing to contract management to a prescribed trust, verify whether a regulation has been made under s 6(4) and the registration or prescription processes. Track the timing of regulatory disallowance windows modified by s 6(7)-(8) and s 10(2)’s link to the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989.

10. Preserve and consider existing interests.

• Review existing easements, leases and licences preserved by s 11 to ensure proposed activities do not interfere with them, and to identify any pre-existing options or rights exercisable by existing tenants.

11. Document approvals and reasons.

• For Ministerial consents, ensure the reasons for decisions are drafted and published pursuant to s 6(6)(c). This will reduce transparency disputes and assist if judicial or administrative review is later pursued.

12. Monitor acquisition and substratum issues.

• If the proposal involves subsurface works or rights, note s 5A allows substratum acquisition for a public purpose under the Land Acquisition Act. Seek legal advice early where compulsory acquisition risk is identified.

Practical compliance burden and timing considerations. Expect multi‑stage processes: public notice and comment periods (30 days under s 6(6)), open tender processes when applicable (s 6A), parliamentary tabling and siting timelines when long terms are contemplated (s 6(3)), and council determination times for development consents (s 7(2)). Prepare for the need to coordinate Ministerial processes, tendering, council approvals, heritage consents and community consultations. The Trust and proponents should plan project timelines accordingly and allocate resources for procurement, consultation, heritage assessment and for preparing published reasons and notices as required by the Act.