Adelaide City councillor Anne Moran’s hostile emails to colleagues leaked

Hundreds of leaked emails sent by long-serving Adelaide City councillor Anne Moran reveal her name-calling of other elected members.

Hundreds of hostile emails sent by long-serving Adelaide City councillor Anne Moran to other elected members have led to calls for limited council terms.

In the leaked council emails sent this term, Ms Moran, a former school teacher, called elected members “a joke”, “a loser”, an “insufferable fool” and “self-deluded”.

She described various councillors within a voting bloc dubbed Team Adelaide as being a “horrible little person” and for being “like a broken record spouting venom”.

Ms Moran questioned the timing of the leak and told The Advertiser the comments made were not in isolation and were “responding to extreme bullying”.

“I am not comfortable with some of the colloquial terms I used but these have been trying times and as I said in response to unendurable behaviour from Team Adelaide both privately and in meetings,” she said.

Councillor Anne Moran addresses the chamber. Picture: Brenton Edwards

First-time candidate Domenico Gelonese, who is running against Ms Moran for Area councillor, said it was this type of behaviour that forced his hand to stand.

“The behaviour of our longest-sitting councillor, especially over the past four-year term, was perhaps the biggest contribution to my proposal on there being term limits,” Mr Gelonese said.

“Term limits will help ensure that fresh faces and new ideas can come on to the council. If a councillor cannot get what they want done in eight years, it just isn’t going to happen.”

Mr Gelonese, who has published social media videos targeted at the removal of Ms Moran after 27 years in the chamber, proposed the city councillors be restricted to two four-year terms to ensure “fresh ideas”.

The leaked emails come more than a year after a previously confidential 20-page report, by EMA Legal, found the council was “dysfunctional, frustrating and aggressive”.

Councillor Phillip Martin was named for causing the most problems and Ms Moran was criticised for sending emails to the media, elected members and council staff that regularly upset them.

At the time, Mr Martin apologised for any role he played in council staff being adversely impacted by their interactions with elected members.

The Advertiser can reveal despite the damning report and action by the council administration, Ms Moran had sent more hostile emails to the council executive and elected members as recently as August.

It was also noted at the July meeting that “irrelevant email traffic from certain council members continues to be sent to all council members and many staff, in substantial volume”.

In some of the email chains, Ms Moran extended dinner invitations to members and staff in the “spirit of healing” but they were largely ignored.

Mr Martin responded to an August invitation: “Your generosity throughout the term has been outstanding. I’m sorry so few of us ever get to enjoy your cooking”.

To which Ms Moran replied: “It was a genuine gesture on my part, but the dismissive attitude of the Administration and the Team (Adelaide) is emblematic of this awful council”.

Former councillor Greg Mackie, who had planned to run for lord mayor, resigned from the council in June and blamed its “corrosive nature” for his decision and took a swipe at the Team Adelaide faction.

Former Adelaide City councillor Greg Mackie. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

“There is no civility, and certain members of the dominant faction ostracise those not of their ilk, triggering other reaction,” he wrote in a letter of resignation.

In an email, Ms Moran expressed her disappointment the council had lost one of its “brightest stars” in Mr Mackie.

“The council in this term is brutal and Team Adelaide are arrogant and show no leadership, just brute force, because they have the numbers and like lemmings huddle together behind (Councillor Alexander) Hyde and (Lord Mayor Sandy) Verschoor with the (Advertiser’s) Colin James cheering them on as they run this city into a party-filled ditch. I will miss you so much and hope we can continue our warm friendship out of the hell that is this council.”

Ms Verschoor’s 2020 Christmas message to councillors and staff resulted in a back-and-forth between Ms Moran and Mr Hyde.

“Please at the very least stop copying in the executive and my team – they do not need to be party to your bickering, bullying and threats,” Ms Verschoor wrote.

“Enough. It’s Christmas. Take a break.”

In numerous emails, Ms Moran labelled Mr Hyde a “loser”, a “joke” and an “insufferable fool” and told him to “zip it” and “you really are awful”.

Mr Hyde told The Advertiser the juvenile insults were not how elected members should engage, regardless of the issue.

Alexander Hyde at the Adelaide Town Hall. Picture: Matt Turner

“The lashing out appears to be a symptom of her losing control of the council chamber, which it seems has been treated like a fiefdom for years,” Mr Hyde said.

“It would have been easier to turn a blind eye to this, as I believe many have done for years, but what is easy is not necessarily right. The standard you walk by is the standard you accept.”

Ms Moran also questioned whether Cr Franz Knoll was “on the same council or planet as the rest of us”.

Mr Knoll said he always worked to have constructive and courteous relationships, but “unfortunately that hasn’t been reciprocated”.

“In my 30 years of involvement in business, community boards and organisations, I have never experienced such relentless attacks. It has been at times distressing,” he said.

Ms Verschoor was ridiculed for “drinking champagne on the balcony” on Australia Day in 2021 with guests, with Ms Moran adding “seriously have you got no sense”.

Ms Verschoor was also blamed for allowing “this council to be ruined”.

Ms Verschoor told The Advertiser she reminds all members at meetings of their standing orders, but at times some “have put forward their opinions or had exchanges in a way that has not been reasonable or respectful of others”.

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor, who is seeking re-election. Picture: Kelly Barnes

“I encourage and fully support debate, differing views and opinions, which are the basis of democratic decision making,” she said.

“However, we must maintain respectful relations with other council members and staff.”

Ms Verschoor said after the culture report she requested all councillor questions went through her and trialled different seating arrangements.

Ms Moran has made accusations in emails that she herself has been bullied by other elected members, which despite raising with staff, had never been acted upon.

Ms Verschoor said she and the chief executive had offered to meet with Ms Moran and give assistance, that both offers were declined and no formal complaint lodged.

Ms Moran did in an email say Deputy Lord Mayor Arman Abrahimzadeh had been “extremely abusive to me from the beginning of this term” and had “oppressive behaviour”.

Mr Abrahimzadeh, an anti-domestic violence campaigner and founder of the Zahra Foundation Australia, said such accusations “given my personal story, is offensive”.

“This is normal though as Ms Moran’s comments are personal, vicious and designed to cause maximum distress and damage,” he said.

Ms Moran questioned the timing of the email leak and said most had been dealt with in previous articles, including by The Advertiser.

“I am upset that this old chestnut is being rehashed in the middle of an election,” she said.

“Team Adelaide formed an unbreakable voting bloc which abused the independents who are truly independent comprising of very different political persuasions.

“Many of the independents have suffered by their constant unfair treatment and cruel words to the detriment of our wellbeing physically and emotionally.”

In regards to limited council terms, Ms Moran said it was up to ratepayers to decide who they wanted elected and she believed her chances had been diminished by negative media coverage by The Advertiser.

She said no staff had been copied into any councillors’ emails since the request was made by the new chief executive, who took over in August last year.

“The previous CEO asked us to so he knew what councillors were discussing but we all stopped doing that on Clare’s request,” she said.

“No complaints had ever been made to us before that but I was happy to obey.”

Acting chief executive Tom McCready said after the culture report the council reminded all councillors not to unnecessarily copy in staff to communications.

Mr McCready welcomed the statewide implementation of the new conduct management framework for council members later this year to strengthen the code of conduct system.

“(It will) set clearer rules for behaviour and provide better tools to resolve repeated and serious behaviour,” he said.

The council this term received 21 code of conduct complaints – nine of which were substantiated, including one against Councillor Jessy Khera who was this year found to have breached the code by failing to show respect to Ms Moran in an email exchange last year.

One of the comments by Mr Khera the report found to be “somewhat intimidatory” was: “I shan’t be blocking you Anne. I like to keep tabs”.

Despite the finding, the report recommended the council take no further action and an apology was not warranted.