Adelaide councillors Carmel Noon, Mary Couros separated in Town Hall seating plan

A pair of feuding Adelaide city councillors will no longer be seated near each other in the wake of a stoush that sent shockwaves through the chamber.

A very public F-bomb during an Adelaide City Council meeting has been resolved, with the warring parties being separated in their seating arrangements for official engagements.

Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith insisted on splitting the pair after a May meeting which was interrupted by an audible “f-ck off, Mary” sledge to councillor Mary Couros.

The comment by councillor Carmel Noon sent shockwaves around the council chamber and led to admonishment by chair Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith.

In a terse explanation of why she had separated the pair, Dr Lomax-Smith told The Advertiser: “Ratepayers care about the decisions we make in the chamber – not where we sit while we make them”.

Ms Noon says she was objecting to criticism by Ms Couros that she was manipulating debate to prepare for a 2022 election re-run, which may result from an ongoing case in the Court of Disputed Returns.

All parties have welcomed the changed seating order, revealed at council’s Tuesday night meeting.

Ms Noon said she had requested the change and “hell would freeze over” before she reverted to the prior arrangements.

Ms Couros welcomed the new arrangements and said: “The seating in the council chamber is at the discretion of the Lord Mayor and it’s better for all of us to have a new arrangement”.

Chairing the May meeting in which the sledge was made, Dr Lomax-Smith sharply criticised both councillors and threatened to eject them from the meeting, but later retracted her criticism of Ms Couros.

Adelaide City Councillor Carmel Noon. Picture: Supplied

Adelaide City Councillor Mary Couros.Picture: Claudio Rashella

Ms Couros said she felt sick after the attack and Ms Noon apologised to the meeting for the sledge.

The Advertiser learned Dr Lomax-Smith had decided she would separate the pair soon after the fracas.

Ms Noon said Ms Couros had made the debate in May “personal” by raising the ongoing court battle over votes in her ward, and she had also been criticised by councillor Henry Davis, who was sitting on the other side of her position.

“So her comments cut to the core, were cruel, and the Lord Mayor should have stopped her in her tracks and if she had this would not have escalated,’’ she said.

“Discussing an issue while it is still going through the court system should be banned.

“It was just impossible to focus on what was happening with the banter on either side of me, which the recording does highlight, hence I asked the Lord Mayor after the meeting to move me.

“Hell will freeze over before I sit between those two disruptive councillors again – good luck re the others who have been selected.

Cr Henry Davis’ rebel prayer

Adelaide City Council’s Tuesday night meeting was interrupted when a rebel councillor recited a Christian prayer, despite the tradition having been dropped from official meetings.

Earlier this year council had deliberated a recommendation from administration to abandon the prayer, which was always read at the start of meetings by the Lord Mayor.

Adelaide City councillor Henry Davis Picture: Supplied

Adelaide Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier

But in a compromise decided by Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith, she now asks councillors to stand and reflect, using the silence to read the prayer from a wide-screen display or for: “A moment of contemplation of the gravity and implications of our decision making”.

On Tuesday night, to the surprise of those around him, Cr Henry Davis instead recited the prayer; “Almighty God, we ask 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”.

He has been contacted for comment but The Advertiser understands he justified the interruption and recital by referencing a loophole in the Lord Mayor’s introduction, that councillors should “reflect in a manner appropriate to their beliefs”.

Council was inundated by reaction from residents and church groups when The Advertiser revealed in February that the administration planned to dump the reading, with question marks also over the acknowledgment of Colonel William Light and a formal silence for veterans.

The change of rules never made it to a vote but using her powers, Lord Mayor Lane Lomax-Smith controversially abandoned the prayer in March.

Other planned changes at the time; a nod to Colonel Light and silence for veterans, were rejected, and a Kaurna welcome was never under threat.