Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor cancels because of anxiety about getting Covid

Anxious guests worried about getting Covid have prompted Adelaide’s lord mayor to cancel her biggest parties – while councillors staged a showdown over vaccination certificates.

Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor has cancelled her biggest Christmas parties because guests are scared of getting Covid.

Ms Verschoor announced on Wednesday that she had made the “difficult decision” to postpone two receptions planned for Friday until early next year.

In an email to 300 invited guests, she said a “number of guests” had contacted her “feeling anxious about attending a large gathering so close to Christmas”.
“So, I have decided to no longer go ahead with this Friday’s event and instead will plan an event for the evening of Thursday, February 3, welcoming in the new year.

“By then, we will have reached the 90 per cent vaccination rate, have restrictions lifted and will know more about the Omicron variant.”

Ms Verschoor’s decision came after elected members were urged to produce evidence of double vaccination to council chief executive Clare Mockler.

Ms Mocker sent an email to all staff earlier this month telling them they had to be double vaccinated by next month.

Those who did not want to be vaccinated or could not be vaccinated had to discuss their reasons with their managers.

Councillor Phillip Martin during an Adelaide City Council meeting at Adelaide Town Hall. Picture: Brenton Edwards

During a debate on Tuesday night about whether elected members could be forced to be vaccinated, it emerged five out of 12 had yet to give Ms Mockler their certificates.

Cr Phillip Martin, who recently became seriously ill with pneumonia, said it was important all councillors provided evidence that they were double-vaccinated.

“We are requiring our staff to be vaccinated so whenever we meet with them or mix with them we know we are dealing with people who are vaccinated,” he said.

“We are not providing any such guarantee to our staff.”

Cr Anne Moran challenged anyone who had not been double vaccinated “to stand up”.

“Five members of this council have not given the administration their vaccination certificate, who are the five who have not done that,” she said.

Attempts by several councillors – Cr Moran, Mary Couros, Jessy Khera, and Keiran Snape – to state they were double vaccinated were rejected by Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor.

A council spokeswoman said all elected members had provided their double vaccination certificates by Wednesday lunchtime.