Adelaide City Councillor quits, vowing to take on rivals
A prominent councillor who was kicked out of a meeting earlier this week has called in the media to announce his dramatic next move.
Councillor Henry Davis has resigned from his seat on the Adelaide City Council effective immediately, days after being booted from a council meeting.
Davis said he would resign at Montefiore Hill’s Light’s Vision statue on Friday morning, also announcing his tilt at Lord Mayor at the next council election.
Other councillors voted to remove Davis from Tuesday night’s meeting under the Local Government Act’s regulation 29 – a regulation that reprimands improper behaviour at a council meeting.
Davis has been removed from several council meetings this term and was previously found by the Ombudsman to have breached the Local Government Act, a breach he refused to apologise for at the time.
He has also previously filed defamation proceedings against two other councillors, who apologised to Davis publicly, and the cases settled out of court.
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Davis told InDaily that no specific complaint or incident led to his decision to resign, but that council opposition was a factor.
“Honestly, it kind of does, because the complaints that I get and that I’m dealing with, they spend a fortune on, it’s intentional, and it’s intimidating,” he said.
Davis said he would take on current Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith, a former Labor cabinet Minister in the Rann Government.
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Davis claimed Lomax-Smith was “ineffectual, uninspiring, and unable to influence outcomes” in the role.
Lomax-Smith held the Lord Mayor position from 1997 to 2000, after also serving as a minister in the state Labor government from 2002 to 2010.
When she returned to council in 2022 she said her priorities were managing the council budget post-Covid and being an advocate for park lands protection.
Lomax-Smith was unable to be reached for comment.
Davis, a former member of the Liberal Party and former president of Reform Australia’s SA division, said he was not currently a member of a political party and would run as an independent.
The Adelaide City Council confirmed it had received Davis’ resignation, which would be effective immediately.
“The resignation of Councillor Davis has been received and noted by Council’s Chief Executive Officer,” the spokesperson said.
“In accordance with the Local Government Act, this does not affect the operation of the Council and a supplementary election is not required.”
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