Adelaide finally gets not one… but two Deputy Lord Mayors
A state election hopeful has grasped the deputy reins at Adelaide City Council despite a warning from its leader.
Keiran Snape was appointed Deputy Lord Mayor at last night’s Adelaide City Council meeting, but will only hold the job for three months before recently reappointed councillor Carmel Noon takes over in December for 2026.
Snape, a former Greens member and now independent candidate for Adelaide in next year’s State Election, announced in June that he will be fighting to win a spot in the state parliament on the March 21 election day next year.
The coveted role comes with a pay bump, the deputy is paid $47,035.50 a year, 1.5 times the pay of an Adelaide City Councillor’s $31,357 a year.
Snape’s win comes after a controversial lead up to the vote with Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith warning that Snape’s running for Deputy Lord Mayor was “unwise” given he was a state candidate.
The Lord Mayor was unable to vote at the meeting as she was currently in New York busy lobbying for Adelaide to secure the coveted global climate event COP31.
However, Lomax-Smith previously raised concerns about Snape being the best person for the job when he was hoping to be elected to State Government at next year’s March election.
“City council positions such as the Deputy Lord Mayor role must be politically impartial, especially during the run-up to a state election,” she said at the September 9 meeting.
Snape said at the time that he was capable of the job, and “all across the state, candidates are able to successfully fulfil their roles while campaigning”.
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After being appointed last night, he said he has “the utmost respect” for Lomax-Smith.
“She has my full support and confidence, and I look forward to working with her, fellow elected members and our community in the role,” he said.
There was an attempt at last night’s meeting to delay the Deputy Lord Mayor vote so Lomax-Smith would be present, but the bid was lost.
Snape won the deputy role for the remainder of 2025 with six votes, beating councillor Mary Couros who received three votes.
He was “honoured” to return to the role that he filled in 2024.
“Serving our city and its residents and ratepayers is a huge responsibility and one that I don’t take lightly,” Snape said.
“I intend to continue working towards furthering the goals of council and bringing the community and council closer together.”
Snape’s win makes him the third councillor to hold the position in 2025, succeeding Phillip Martin, who had been Deputy Lord Mayor since May.
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Martin took over from former Central Ward councillor David Elliott, whose appointment was voided after an unprecedented court judgement prompted a supplementary election.
The ruling came after the court found on the balance of probabilities that illegal practices impacted the election, with several instances where ballot papers were handled or not filled in by the lawful voters.
Elliott was not accused of any wrongdoing by the courts and ran in the supplementary election but was unsuccessful.
Snape said Elliott was “a wonderful person to work with” and thanked him for his service to the city.
Martin kept the seat warm until the Adelaide City Council’s Central Ward supplementary election returned a full council of members to take the vote again.
Councillor Noon was voted Deputy Lord Mayor from January until November 2026, when the current council term ends.
She beat Councillor Mark Siebentritt for the position, with six votes to three.
In August, Noon was re-elected to Central Ward and was the only returned incumbent. She won the highest number of first preferences in the supplementary election, as she did in the 2022 general council elections.
The judgment specified that Noon did not benefit from the illegal practices the court found to have occurred, and she has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Noon is the CEO of the Australian Institute of Conveyancers SA division and has previously held a variety of CEO and director roles, including being the CEO of Kangaroo Island Council from 2007–2011.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the council also voted on who would chair two of its committees that lost chairs after the Central Ward court judgement.
Noon was appointed chair of the City Planning, Development and Business Affairs Committee.
Newly appointed Central Ward councillors Patrick Maher and Eleanor Freeman were appointed chair and deputy chair of the Infrastructure and Public Works Committee.
