Airing dirty council laundry | Roxie’s first bricks fall | Opposition’s podcast Ley-up
This week, InSider hops on the council spin cycle, watches bricks fall at the Cranker’s neighbour and keeps up with new friendships blossoming on social media.
Councillor exposes ‘dirty Labor tactics’ with Instagram feud
As it often does in this term of the Adelaide City Council, tensions between elected members have seeped onto social media.
Councillor Henry Davis shared a private email from Councillor Keiran Snape on Instagram, in which Snape accuses the Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith of “dirty Labor tactics”.
InSider understands many within the council chamber believe the real dirty tactic is Davis’ attempt to spin an old email into a campaign against the Lord Mayor.
And it seems to be resonating, at least with the whopping seven commenters on Davis’ Instagram post calling on Lomax-Smith to leave the position.
Davis, who is a Liberal, has aligned himself with Greens member Keiran Snape, clearly embracing that the enemy of my enemy is my friend – but Snape doesn’t seem to share the same affection.
“I’m disappointed that Henry is using one previous disagreement between the Lord Mayor and I, several months ago to fuel his destructive narrative against the council,” Snape told InSider.
“He needs to decide whether his role is about genuine community representation or just sowing the seeds of chaos.”
The email, from April, was sent off the back of several special meetings being called to fill the Deputy Lord Mayor role after the landmark judgement that voided four council appointments.
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Being four councillors down hasn’t meant any less drama in the chamber, though, with this week’s antics not unlike a soap opera.
The email outing comes after Snape prompted a vote on Davis being removed from the chamber on Tuesday night after Davis was accused of consistently interrupting and heckling the Lord Mayor and others.
Davis took the chance to use his “personal explanation” as parting blows, accusing the Lord Mayor of factional favouritism.
Factionalism is a long-running accusation within the Adelaide City Council halls, with a legacy of Team Adelaide and new accusations of a Labor left faction threatening to cloud councillors’ judgement.
If, like InSider, you’re a glutton for punishment, you can watch the full unravelling of Tuesday’s meeting from 1:11 until 1:32:42 – including about four minutes of their break to cool off, which has been muted.
Going back to the email that Davis shared on Instagram, the Lord Mayor told InSider she has moved on since the April message.
“The hallmark of people who want to work together well is that they can disagree, they can apologise where needed, an apology is accepted and they move on,” she said.
“Councillor Snape and I have moved on, others can please themselves.”
The Lord Mayor might have forgiven Snape, but we can’t let him get off totally scot-free here, because it’s clear he should have given the email a proofread for grammatical or spell-check induced errors.
Rage-emailing and CC’ing all elected members is probably not the smartest move, but we think he’s probably learnt his lesson.
It’s official… the first bricks have fallen
Tom Skipper – managing director of the Crown & Anchor Pty Ltd. – wasn’t lying when he said removing Roxie’s and Chateau Apollo would leave a “gaping hole in Adelaide”.
It’s not so much a “hole” at the moment, though, but more of a general nuisance as the current road works have partially blocked InSider’s entry into the Cranker and ruined the ambience of the local watering hole on a Friday arvo.
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A too-literal knock-off is taking place at Roxie’s and Chateau Apollo’s former site
“There’s certainly nothing in the East End that rivals this, or even through the middle of the CBD,” Skipper told CityMag in March this year.
“It’s just going to be sad the day that the place is levelled, and they start construction on 29-storey towers. Even when that’s completed, driving past it, it’s going to feel empty and it will invoke some emotions, for sure.”
The beer garden had its last dance on Sunday, May 25. Skipper shared on Instagram that he cleared out the site and passed the keys back on June 3. Wasting no time, the works have begun to make way for Singaporean developer Wee Hur, who is set to build a student accommodation tower of up to 29 storeys on the site.
“After almost 14 years, this chapter officially closes,” Skipper said on Instagram.
“While we say goodbye to this site, the memories (and the hangovers) will live on.
“Here’s to what comes next… there’s something cooking.”
The Cranker will temporarily shut up shop in mid-July, and InSider is keen to make the trek to Currie St to have a pint or two in the temporary Ed Castle pop-up… the Crastle.
Ley it on the line
Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley shared on LinkedIn this week that she sat down with journalist Billi FitzSimons at the Daily Aus – something her predecessor refused to do.
Over about seven months, The Daily Aus tried to reach out to former opposition leader Peter Dutton to organise the first youth-led leaders debate or merely an interview opportunity ahead of the federal election.
Their campaign fell on deaf ears as Dutton misread the room, while it was well canvassed by InDaily that the 2025 federal election could be won or lost online.
By going on The Daily Aus, one of the largest social-media based news platforms reaching 616,000 viewers, the new leader is clearly Leyying the groundwork that under her leadership, the Liberal party won’t ignore the country’s largest voting bloc.
None of our beeswax… but
Some would argue that Port could use all the help it can muster to pull itself from near the bottom of the AFL ladder, but InSider was more interested in what’s missing from this brilliant “work bestie” reel produced by the Power and RAA.
We couldn’t get over the lost opportunity to feature the spawn of Satan himself, Trev, in the spot. While Jason Horne-Francis and the RAA roadside assistance dude are busy as bees, surely Trev could’ve buzzed in for a cameo?
There could have been a bee in the bonnet? A buzz in the air? Port making a beeline for the top eight?
