Anne Moran’s alleged refusal to pronounce Arman Abrahimzadeh’s surname properly led to code of conduct complaint
The extent of petty squabbling and dysfunction within Adelaide City Council has been exposed by a code of conduct complaint centred around the pronunciation of a councillor’s surname.
- City council explodes as tensions boil over
- Code of conduct complaint against councillor Anne Moran
- City Cr Anne Moran asks for chamber seat shift as Town Hall
The reasons for a complaint against a veteran Adelaide City councillor has been revealed, with allegations Anne Moran bungled and made fun of a fellow elected member’s name.
In a confidential email, sighted by The Advertiser, Cr Arman Abrahimzadeh wrote to council chief executive Mark Goldstone about the way long-serving council member Anne Moran pronounces his surname. It was one of several reasons he thought warranted a Code of Conduct complaint.
In turn, Cr Moran accuses Cr Abrahimzadeh of “institutional oppression” against her.
In the email, Cr Abrahimzadeh said he was “distressed” by Cr Moran’s behaviour towards him at meetings.
“I first noticed this behaviour when Cr Moran refused to try and pronounce my surname,” Cr Abrahimzadeh wrote in the email.
“While addressing me and other elected members by their first name was not an issue and I did not take offence to it, I understand it to be a breach of the Standing Orders.
“On a couple of occasions in confidential and public meetings, Cr Moran has made fun of my surname by making random noises and ultimately making it sound like gibberish.”
The email chain suggested Cr Moran was due to have a meeting about the complaint today.
Other reasons Cr Abrahimzadeh lodged a complaint included Cr Moran swearing at him on two occasions.
“Unfortunately, the standard in Cr Moran’s behaviour continued to decline,” Cr Abrahimzadeh wrote.
“At a council meeting held on 26 February 2019 at approximately 7pm, I proposed an amendment to a motion put up by Cr Moran to which her response to me was: ‘If you want to change my motion, you f***ing speak to me first’.
“This was heard by a number of councillors in close proximity.”
On another occasion in May, Cr Moran said she jokingly used the word “dickhead” to Cr Abrahimzadeh while he was using ‘d’ words to describe developers.
Other reasons listed in his Code of Conduct complaint included Cr Moran declining to meet with him to discuss his concerns.
Mr Abrahimzadeh said in an email chain between elected members, Cr Moran accused him of being a part of a “cheer squad”.
“Whilst I’m not unique in being verbally assaulted and put down by Cr Moran, I’m afraid this behaviour has been standardised and it is almost expected from Cr Moran,” Mr Abrahimzadeh wrote.
“This behaviour has undermined me as a member of the community and my position as a contributing member of this council.”
In the email chain, Cr Moran wrote that she was amazed “to read this rubbish”.
“I really have difficulty as many others did pronouncing his name,” she wrote.
When contacted by The Advertiser, Cr Moran said the complaint was just a way to discredit her.
“It is institutional oppression,” she said.
The complaint was made after a fiery meeting in May where the meeting had to be suspended because of councillors hurling abuse at each other.
The Advertiser later revealed Local Government Minister Stephan Knoll was considering giving South Australian mayors new power to deal with immature and disruptive councillors.
That could include booting elected members from meetings.
Cr Abrahimzadeh said: “The Code of Conduct complaint is currently progressing in accordance with the relevant process and I don’t want to compromise the integrity of the process.”
