Queen Anne Moran dethroned: 27 moments for Anne Moran’s 27 years in public life

So, that’s it for Anne Moran. Outspoken and often controversial as an Adelaide City Councillor since 1995, we reflect on her greatest hits and misses.

So, that’s it for Anne Moran. An Adelaide City Councillor since 1995, stoic defender of all that is great in the village of North Adelaide, who never backed down from a stoush, a parklands evangelical and opposer of almost everything that could be construed as modern development.

But her last term in office seemed to be defined by arguments, complaints and general unpleasantness. It was messy. And the rest of us watched an Adelaide City Council that never seemed to emerge from its own sense of dysfunction.

Still, Moran was a popular politician, maybe even a populist politician in her own backyard, and you can’t win that many elections without doing something right. And whatever else you say about Moran, it was never dull.

To mark Moran’s political passing, here are 27 highlights of her time in the public eye.

1. Letters to the editor

Moran stood unsuccessfully for council in 1993, but even before that she was a regular contributor to The Advertiser, penning many letters to the editor. Including one in 1993 bemoaning the holding of the German Schutzenfest in Bonython Park. “Would not shuttle buses to and from Hahndorf have solved the drink-driving problems and spared our parklands of this “mass swillfest’’?

2. Stirring up the Lord Mayor

Before Moran was even elected, the future councillor was stirring up the Lord Mayor of the day. In 1994, Lord Mayor Henry Ninio was threatening legal action over one of Moran’s missives to the paper where she questioned the “vision’’ of the council. Moran would write a letter of apology to Ninio.

3. Mission to protect North Adelaide
By 1996, Moran was in council and well on her mission to protect North Adelaide. She infuriated her old mate Ninio when in opposing a proposed office block in a heritage are of North Adelaide, she distributed a hand-drawn interpretation of what the building would look like. The building’s actual architect called the drawing “misleading, inaccurate and

unauthorised’’.

4. $20,000 PR spokeman

The rumble with Ninio was a constant refrain. The same year, Moran moved a motion for the council to pay $20,000 to employ a PR expert as an official spokesman because “some of the things the Lord Mayor has been saying do not reflect the whole view of council’’.

5. If it’s broke, why fix it?
The nearby Adelaide Oval was a frequent target of Moran’s ire. Moran opposed the fixed lighting towers at the Oval because they ruined the skyline. “It is just a big engineering solution without even a passing wave to aesthetics.’’

Adelaide City councillor Anne Moran was against the Stadium Management Authority gaining control of the Parklands surrounding the redeveloped Adelaide Oval as proposed by the State Government.

6. Anti-video screen
Moran was also against the installation of a video screen at the venue. “It’s horrible and there is going to be a huge outcry,’’ she said.

7. Anti-Oval concerts
Then, of course, there was the objection to concerts being played at the Adelaide Oval number 2, accusing the council of “whoring out the parklands’’.

8. ‘Pamela Anderson Boulevard’
Moran wasn’t even a fan of the most famous cricketer to play at Adelaide Oval, voting against the proposal to rename Burbridge Rd, Sir Donald Bradman Drive. “Will we start calling them after Hollywood stars … should we have Pamela Anderson Boulevard?’’ Ms Moran said. Probably the only time in history that someone has drawn a direct link between The Don and Pammy.

9. Is Don, is no good
The former Liberal Party member was also not keen to memorialise former Premier Don Dunstan in a statue, saying her residents in North Adelaide “would not support having their money spent this way’’.

Adelaide councillor Anne Moran walking through the city railyards before they were converted to parklands, 1999.

10. What’s in a name?
Moran was also against renaming for King William Rd between North Terrace and Brougham Place Don Dunstan Boulevard.

11. Statue situation
Still, some statues caught her attention. In 2000 there was a thought to move the city’s Hercules statue from Pennington Gardens to Victoria Square. Moran liked the statue but thought there could be a small, or maybe big, problem in Hercules’ downstairs region. ``Who am I to say what’s small or big, but I think it’s fair to say the proportions in this case are unusual.’’

12. Red light for Barton Tce
There were a few perennials in Moran’s career. She steadfastly opposed the reopening of Barton Tce, a road that links lovely North Adelaide with those western suburbs.

13. Le Cornu battle lost
And she fought for years, and eventually lost the battle, on what form the redevelopment of the old Le Cornu site on O’Connell should take.

14. Women safety, “redneck” coppers
Moran would often talk about the need to improve safety on city streets, especially for women, but incurred the wrath of the police when she criticised a 2000 operation on Hindley St as being over the top. She said the police were “redneck, too heavy-handed and old-fashioned’’,

15. Barry White to stop crime
Still she did have her own ideas for reducing crime, proposing in 2004 that “elevator-style music’’ such as Barry White and Barry Manilow be played in laneways to drive away drug dealers and loiterers.

16. Anti-tram extension
Moran was an opponent of extending the tram network from Victoria Square, saying the $21m cost should be spent fitting seatbelts on buses to protect children.

Mary Couros, Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor, Anne Moran, Helen Donovan Picture: AAP Image / Russell Millard

17. Lord Mayor maybe
Moran floated the idea of running for Lord Mayor several times, but never made it to the big chair. She was always happy to voice opinions on the ambitions of others however. She said in 2003 that Adelaide was not ready for fellow councillor Greg Mackie to be Lord Mayor. “Whether Adelaide is ready for a gay lord mayor in safari suits, I’m not so sure.’’

18. Fighter for women’s rights
Moran was a fighter for women’s rights and what she saw as the often sexist nature of town hall politics. She wanted to change the rules to make it easier for mothers to be involved. In 1999, persuading council to start meetings later so she could look after her children. “Someone said I should hire a babysitter, but you can’t hire someone to pick children up from three different schools and sports practice and then cook dinner,’’ she said.

19. “Crap pavers”
Moran railed against “buying Chinese crap (pavers) because it’s cheap’’ for Rundle Mall.

20. No keys for Humphries
She also proposed veteran entertainer Barry Humphries be awarded the keys to the city.

21. Discord dominated final years
After such a long career, it’s sad that Moran’s likely to be remembered for the discord that dominated the last few years as her and ally Phillip Martin battled the dominant Team Adelaide faction.

22. “Disrespectful”?
A report commissioned by the council, made public this year, said Moran found she had been “disrespectful’’ to staff. “Councillor Moran is alleged to contribute to poor behaviour by (for example) walking out of meetings, copying media outlets to emails between council members that were disrespectful communications and which did not concern council business and engaging disrespectfully with other council members using email,” it said.

23. Jokes on who?
Other emails sent to her council colleagues in the most recent term called them at different times “a joke”, “a loser”, an “insufferable fool” and “self-deluded”.

24. Dad’s day dispute
Moran also invited some ridicule this year when she complained that a story on councillor Arman Abrahimzadeh was unfair and one should also be done on her and other candidates. The story was published for Father’s Day and was about his first meeting with his father since his father had murdered Abrahimzadeh’s mother.

Councillor Anne Moran during Adelaide City Council meeting at Adelaide Town Hall, April 13, 2021. Picture: Brenton Edwards

25. Confidential Games info leaked
Moran was also found in 2020 by the State Ombudsman to have leaked confidential information about a proposed bid by the state for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

26. Noisy fridge makes world news
Moran endured/enjoyed the role as the primary defender of North Adelaide. She even achieved a measure of global fame in 1999 when she was interviewed by the BBC when she was called in by North Adelaide residents who were complaining a fridge in a local supermarket was too noisy.

27. ATTN: “Gaggle of snobby Councillors”
But let’s end with one more email. This one from 2014, when she felt the council weren’t doing enough to protect her residents from unwarranted attacks.

“I am really angry that this casual and generally believed and rarely challenged vicious abuse of our residents in North Adelaide is allowed year after year to continue and nothing effective is done South Australians because of this believe North Adelaide and it’s gaggle of snobby Councillors are holding the State back and forcing our children to leave.’’