Adelaide City Council rules on the inclusion of a ‘multi-faith’ prayer in meeting agenda

Jane Lomax-Smith has slammed the “merry-go-round” over the city council’s Christian prayer after a decision was made over its inclusion in meeting agendas.

The Adelaide City Council’s battle over a Christian prayer has reached a resolution, with councillors voting to include a “multi-faith prayer” in meetings going forward.

After a heated 20-minute debate on Tuesday evening, councillors voted 6-4 to keep a compromised version of the prayer within the council agenda – but the proposal was met with pushback from Councillor David Elliott, who labelled the debate a “waste of time”.

In May, the Lord Mayor’s decision to dump the prayer reading from council agenda caused a furore from Councillor Henry Davis, who accused the council of religious discrimination.

The motion to keep a compromised version of the prayer within the council agenda was put forward by Councillor Carmel Noon and seconded by Mr Davis.

“I acknowledge that sadly I have a snowdrop’s chance in hell to protect the current prayer … (but) this is my common ground offering,” Ms Noon said.

“We can’t just throw out tradition because of our own personal beliefs.

“Even the Acknowledgement of Country is deeply spiritual … however that is not under threat.

“Although not ideal for my own personal perspective, I’m happy to put my personal beliefs to one side and put forward this compromise.”

Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith hit out following the debate, saying the community expected council to “focus on the real issues facing our city instead of getting distracted by the merry-go-round of whether we read a prayer before a council meeting.”

“Last night the Council approved 14 substantial items, including adopting the Long Term Financial Plan, which are of greater interest to our ratepayers,” she said.

When the idea of abandoning the prayer was first proposed, Dr Lomax-Smith instead said before meetings: “This is a moment of contemplation about the gravity and implications of decision-making. I invite members to read the prayer as printed or reflect in a manner appropriate to their beliefs on these issues”.

But Mr Davis rejected the ruling, and began reciting his own prayer, leading to Dr Lomax-Smith changing the preamble to include the words “in silence”.

Mr Davis, who argued for a broadening of the prayer to include non-Christian beliefs, was rebuked by fellow councillors after vocally persisting with the practice during subsequent meetings.

Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith and Councillor Henry Davis.

Deputy Lord Mayor Phillip Martin told the meeting he was “disappointed” that Mr Davis was continuing with his recitals.

The previous prayer read: “Let us Pray. Almighty God we ask for your blessing upon the works of the City of Adelaide, direct and prosper its deliberations to the advancement of your glory and the true welfare of the people of this city, Amen.”

The new prayer will be worded: “We pray for understanding in the decisions we are about to make”.

“The prayer is here to stay … and this applies for all council meetings going forward,” Mr Davis told ABC Radio.

“This means everyone can pray in a manner that’s appropriate for them and can reflect on their own religious beliefs.

“This is a multi-faith prayer that’s very open and quite loose, many councils have (similar prayers) across South Australia.”

Adelaide City Councillor Carmel Noon. Picture: Supplied

During Tuesday’s debate, Mr Elliott labelled the back-and-forth a “complete waste of time” and said the practice “didn’t have a place” in council.

“We’ve spent months going over this, we’ve spent God knows how many ratepayer dollars on a line that’s a matter of procedure, on a line about who we acknowledge,” he said.

“This is why people think our council is an absolute shambles and we’re all a bunch of crackpots.

“I have to come into this place as a queer person and be forced to pray and forced to observe religious practices, in the course of my duty as a publicly elected official.

“Forcing public officials to say ‘Hello’ to God at the beginning of a substantive meeting about real business feels to me like it’s been a complete waste of our time over the past few months.”

Dr Lomax-Smith said people should “not be forced” to read religious prayers, but said she would comply with the motion.

“I don’t want to read a prayer and I don’t think we should ever force a member of staff to read a prayer, because no employee should be forced to undertake a religious process they don’t feel comfortable with,” she said.

The council will retain its pledge, introduced in August 2023, which states: “May we in this meeting speak honestly, listen attentively, think clearly and decide wisely for the good governance of the City of Adelaide and the wellbeing of those we serve.”