Banned city councillor appears at fiery meeting
A suspended Adelaide councillor defiantly attended the town hall as his former colleague delivered a speech calling out “distressing” behaviour.
Deputy Lord Mayor Carmel Noon has delivered a fiery speech aimed at a controversial ex-councillor, who watched on in the gallery, at Tuesday night’s Adelaide City Council.
Ex-councillor and Lord Mayor candidate Henry Davis sat in the public gallery to watch last night’s council meeting after a recent Behavioural Standards Panel report found he had “committed serious misbehaviour on three occasions”.
Davis was subject to an investigation after he allegedly filmed and shared footage of three of his council colleagues at the Treasury 1860 bar on March 25, 2025.
The report details three alleged breaches of section 75G of the Local Government Act and ordered he be suspended from his role as an Adelaide City Councillor for three months and issue a public apology.
But Davis resigned two weeks ago as a councillor before the report was officially released this week, announcing he would run for Mayor against Jane Lomax-Smith.
Noon told council the incident at Treasury 1860, involving herself, councillor Keiran Snape and ex-councillor David Elliott, was “distressing” and that bar staff were asked to intervene.
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“We went to the Treasury, ordered dinner, and had one glass of wine each on our own time and our own expense. I looked up and saw Mr Davis filming us. I was aghast,” Noon said.
“Davis then posted the footage on social media and created the false impression that we were drinking instead of attending to our council responsibilities.
“For weeks afterwards, I found myself looking over my shoulder, wondering whether Mr Davis might again be nearby with his camera.”
The Behavioural Standards Panel found Davis had “failed to take reasonable care” that his acts did not impact the health and safety of fellow councillors and therefore “committed serious misbehaviour”.
The Deputy Lord Mayor went on to say how she was concerned that Davis had not had the “capacity to admit an error of judgement” and apologise.
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“Mr Davis frequently speaks out about making our city safer. He stated that the city is unsafe, but safety also means creating a workplace in which people, particularly women, are not secretly or persistently filmed after clearly asking for it to stop,” Noon said.
“And Mr Davis, when a woman says stop, a woman says no, you should listen to her. He apparently believes his conduct did not warrant an apology, as I have not received one.”
Councillor Keiran Snape also addressed council, saying he felt “intimidated” by the ex-councillor’s behaviour and that he feels “slightly safer” following Davis’s resignation.
Davis has denied any wrongdoing, telling InDaily it was the third time he had faced “defamatory public attacks from a fellow councillor”.
“The previous attempts ended with apologies and monetary damages from [Phillip] Martin and [Janet] Giles. I won’t be intimidated by another attempt to publicly smear my reputation,” Davis said.
“The attempt to reframe this as a problem with women is blatantly deceptive.
“Cr Noon has now stepped out of the protections of the panel’s report and made these comments publicly. I now have the opportunity to test her assertions in an open court.”
The colourful ex-councillor had been removed from seven council meetings during this term, and faced investigations from the Ombudsman for alleged misconduct, and from within the council over a 2024 social media video targeting his colleagues.
He rejected the findings of the Behavioural Standards Panel and said that last night’s speeches would not distract him from his mayoral campaign.
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