Former Arts Minister John Hill says Adelaide should build interactive tribute centres to former Premiers as part of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital redevelopment.

Hill also suggests Adelaide have a temporary roof garden on the Festival Centre Plaza.

The soon-to-be-retired John Hill has just returned from an overseas trip to London, Berlin and Paris, funded through the parliamentary travel entitlements fund for Members of Parliament.

The 17 day July trip focussed on issues relating to ageing, obesity and the arts, Hill’s report states.

“It is clear that issue of an ageing citizenry is facing all Western countries,” the report concluded.

“Proper planning is necessary to ensure that ‘baby boomers’ as they ‘retire’ are housed in age friendly buildings which will both enhance quality of life while reducing health and care costs and liberate ‘family’ housing for those currently under housing pressure.”

While in Berlin, Hill seemed quite taken by the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall some 25 years ago; so much so, that he considers South Australia should find its own Berlin Wall – and tear it down.

“After the fall of the Berlin wall there was an explosion in artistic expression in Berlin; it became a world centre for contemporary art,” he wrote.

“The many unused and old bomb sites, and deserted buildings made for many pop-up opportunities. Cheap accommodation made it easy for artists and other creative people to live in what was clearly a very stimulating environment.”

Hill said we should “identify our ‘Berlin Wall’ and then pull it down.”

His idea for a redeveloped RAH is to “consider as elements in the old RAH site redevelopment, an interactive centre — based on the lives, philosophies and achievements of our three great premiers: Kingston, Playford and Dunstan””

On the modern-day health issue of obesity, Hill observed that “the spreading obesity epidemic continues to be one of the greatest threats to the health of considerable numbers of people, including now those in non-western nations”.

“Solutions are very complex, but clearly a mix of social change initiatives, such as EPODE, which targets families combined with appropriate government interventions are required.”

EPODE is a French-designed, community-based anti-obesity program that first impressed Hill in the mid-2000s when he travelled to Paris with Health department officials.

In 2009, OPAL (Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle) based on the EPODE model was officially launched in South Australia by Hill.

What do you think of John Hill’s ideas?  Email us at [email protected], including your full name. The editor reserves the right to edit letters.