Adelaide City councillors vote 7-4 to enforce media gag orders over certain non-confidential information

Adelaide City councillors have voted to silence its elected members from sharing certain ideas and plans with the media — making it the first SA council to do so.

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Adelaide City Council on Tuesday night adopted a controversial gag-order to silence its elected members from sharing some of their ideas and plans with the media under tough new rules.

Councillors Tuesday night voted seven to four to enforce the ban, the first of its kind in SA, that would restrict them from speaking to the press about motions they intend to put before council until the publication of an agenda.

Some elected members called the move, part of new standing orders “censorship”, “embarrassing”, “secrecy” and impinging on “freedom of speech”

Cr Robert Simms asked for the council to amend a motion and “bag the gag”, but it was knocked back.

Adelaide Lord Mayor with councillors Simon Zou, Mary Couros, Alex Hyde, Anne Moran, Helen Donovan Back Arman Abrahimzadeh, Housman Abiad, Robert Simms, Franz Knoll, Jessy Khera and Phillip Martin. Picture: AAP/Russell Millard

He said the new rule was “downright farcical” and it would add “secrecy” in Town Hall.

“What an absurd decision — a dark day for democracy in the City of Adelaide,” Cr Simms told The Advertiser after his amendment failed.

Cr Anne Moran said she would “be naughty at every meeting” and go to the media with the motions she intended to put before council.

“Anything that stops people speaking about something is a gag order,” Cr Moran said.

“I will be ignoring this advice … and racking up those Codes of Conduct.”

The councillors have until Wednesday before every meeting to lodge a motion on notice and, if accepted by Adelaide City Council chief executive Mark Goldstone, they are published on Friday in an agenda with administration comment.

Adelaide City Councillor Robert Simms.

Councillors, the public and media receive the document at the same time.

The council has meetings every second week.

Initially, Mr Goldstone was unsure if the new rule was legal, but he said advice he received indicated that it was.

Deputy Lord Mayor Houssam Abiad called for that advice, prepared by Natasha Jones of KelledyJones Lawyers, to be released to the public.

“It is my advice that the proposed standing order is not ultra vires (i.e. it is not beyond the power of the council),” Ms Jones wrote in the advice.

“The proposed amendment to the standing orders is, to my understanding, to ensure that council members are fully and accurately informed about proposed motions, in a constructive and responsible manner.”

Any councillor that breaks any standing order faces breaking the council’s Code of Conduct, which would now be recorded in a public online register.

“If there are repeated or sustained breaches … by a single council member, that may be referred, by council resolution, to the relevant authority (the Ombudsman, usually),” Ms Jones wrote.

Cr Arman Abrahimzadeh was supportive of the new rule.

He said some elected members, who opposed it, “might not be disciplined enough to adhere to orders”.

He said the new rule was not a gag order.

“As a person who has had a suppression order served on him ... I know what it is like to be suppressed and have a gag order on them,” Cr Abrahimzadeh said.

Adelaide City Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said the new rule would apply good governance and increase transparency.

“We need to come to this chamber with an open mind, with decisions made inside the chamber, not outside,” Ms Verschoor said.

The council’s new standing orders follow a fortnight of intense infighting within the council chamber where Cr Moran had a Code of Conduct complaint lodged against her.

Cr Jessy Khera, who said the decision “did not come lightly”, said there had been “media stunts” by the “green left” in the lead up to meetings in the past.

He supported the new rule and said it would not stop councillors from doing their jobs effectively.

“We are here to ensure the orderly conduct of council business … as well as the ventilating of democratic issues,” Cr Khera said.

“I just wonder, as a new councillor, if we can put this through, see how it goes, see how it works and, if we are gagged, then down the track, we can change this.”