Playing around with Playford

Labor backbencher John Fulbrook’s job isn’t getting any easier.

The Member for Playford has been for nearly two years now asking for his seat to be renamed because constituents are confusing it with the unrelated council area of Playford.

The state seat of Playford actually sits within the City of Salisbury and only goes as far north as Paralowie. The Playford council area covers a much wider swathe of suburbs further north.

No overlap: The seat of Playford and the council area of Playford are seperate entities.

The naming confusion has turned Fulbrook’s office into something more akin to a referral service than an electorate office, with a daily cavalcade of grumpy Playford ratepayers being told they’ve contacted the wrong guy.

The situation wasn’t made any better when The Advertiser reported in April that Playford Council would be hiking its rates by 6.5 per cent.

“The following day, my office received 30 calls from concerned constituents for that particular matter,” Fulbrook told an electoral boundaries commission hearing last month, according to a recently published transcript.

“And of course, you know we try to help people but I’m not in the business, I feel, of saying it’s not my job.

“And unfortunately the situation I have here is that I have very little options other than to redirect.”

Fulbrook’s pleas at the hearing came after he wrote to the boundaries commission in April asking for a name change. He also asked the Electoral Commissioner two years ago to consider renaming the seat and has made a speech in parliament on the issue. It’s clearly on his mind.

Labor MP John Fulbrook has been pounding the drum to change the name of his electorate. Photo: John Fulbrook MP/Facebook

The Labor MP insists he does not want to see the name of Sir Thomas Playford – the state’s longest serving Premier who hailed from the Liberal Country League party – abolished from South Australia’s electoral map, and says he has consulted with senior Liberals who were “quite sympathetic to the issue that I brought to them”.

Less sympathy was forthcoming from Fulbrook’s Labor colleagues, with his suggestion to transfer the Playford name to some of his northern suburbs parliamentary friends getting a lukewarm response.

“I’ve also had discussions on this matter with the members of both Elizabeth (Labor MP Lee Odenwalder) and Taylor (Labor MP Nick Champion),” Fulbrook said, highlighting two electorates that are actually in the Playford Council area.

“The Member for Elizabeth was not open to a change of name.”

After Fulbrook’s experience, who can blame him?

Odenwalder, to be fair, explained his reasons to InSider, noting the various connections between the seat of Elizabeth and the suburbs within it.

“My view is that Elizabeth – named for Queen Elizabeth II – is an appropriate name for this district, for both historical reasons and as a name which binds communities of interest (including Elizabeth Downs, East, Grove and South),” he said.

“However, we all await the draft report of the Commission in August and the ALP will consult with sitting MPs and provide its response then.”

Champion, for his part, said he “doesn’t mind either way” whether Taylor is renamed Playford or left untouched.

The boundaries commission is not due to make its final determination until November, meaning Fulbrook’s Playford plight will continue for at least the next few months.

In the meantime, if you’re a Playford ratepayer reading this, please consider contacting somebody else.

New Forestville coming to… Forestville?

If Fulbrook is looking for someone to complain to about names, he might find good company in Labor colleague Jayne Stinson.

Stinson expressed her bemusement this week that advertising signs have popped up in Forestville with the words “Forestville. Coming Soon…”

“Been here a while!” Stinson said of the inner southwestern suburb that was carved out in the late 1910s and now forms parts of her Badcoe electorate.

The slightly confusing signs come courtesy of the developers who have won the right to transform the former Forestville Le Cornu site into a $250 million housing, shopping, office and education precinct.

In what can only be described as a moment of breathtaking marketing creativity, the developers have branded the Forestville development “Forestville”. Perhaps its previous French name, Locale, was too hard to pronounce, or the SEO numbers weren’t tracking as well.

Stinson has another theory: “Forestville’s a ripper suburb – that’s probably why they nicked our name.”

“You can’t blame them for wanting to affiliate a new development with an awesome suburb that’s been around for more than 100 years.”

Forestville (the development) won planning approval from the state’s top planning body in March and early works are already underway.

The $250 million housing and market square project set to be built on the corner of Anzac Highway and Leader Street in Forestville. Image: Hames Sharley/Future Urban

The project as it currently stands is set to deliver 219 apartments, 71 townhouses and 67 short-stay apartments for tourism. A market square and “urban green school” are also in the works.

The development is being delivered by local developer Buildtec, Western Australian developer Peet and the Chapley family’s Commercial Retail Group – operators of the Pasadena and Frewville Foodland stores.

Still on the topic of names

InSider has tentacles that reach far and wide across this blue globe we call home. This week, an informant who happens to share the same last name as InDaily‘s new editorial director (because they’re brothers) dropped the ABC and Sky News Australia in it.

It’s because this informant just happens to share a name with a person who really hasn’t been in the news since Obama was the prez of what was once the good ole US of A: David Plouffe.

For you political pundits out there, David Plouffe was the mastermind behind getting Obama elected and had a few massive years of fame… and then came out of the woodwork last week by commenting on the train wreck of the presidential debate.

So what’s an Aussie foreign correspondent to do other than try and get David Plouffe on the phone.

You guessed it: both Sky and the ABC got the wrong David.

The ABC’s Washington office producer, Emilie, was asking for a Zoom interview, with her spruik including the very Aussie self-defacing “I understand that we may not be your first priority… however Australians are keenly engaged in the 2024 race, and as a closer and trusted ally of the US – and a significant security partner…” You get the drift.

Liz from Sky News was much more to the point and was simply going to plonk David on Zoom with weekend breakfast host Tim Gilbert (why Sky News thinks a Democrat would say yes to them is something beyond our reporting scope).

While it was tempting to simply say yes and see if anyone noticed he wasn’t the ‘real’ David Plouffe, the ‘amused’ and very Canadian David Plouffe wrote back:

“I’d be delighted to be interviewed and feel very strongly about what is happening in America.

“However, as a civil servant of a Canadian city, I don’t really have any expertise on the inside workings of American politics.

“Plouffe is a common and proud French Canadian name, you may have to research further.”

To her credit, Emilie replied and thanked Canadian David for the laugh and said she was “a little suspicious that I was in fact getting the right David Plouffe of Obama era fame… but figured I’d shoot my shot”.

Liz has yet to reply.

Biggie vs Tupac, Drake vs Kendrick, Henry vs Jane

It wouldn’t be an edition of InSider without an update on the latest shenanigans from Town Hall.

This week, Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith and Councillor Henry Davis are having it out on Instagram in a battle Davis has dubbed “the biggest thing since Drake and Kendrick”.

Apparently the diss track feud between the US and Canadian rappers viewed by tens of millions around the world has nothing on Tuesday night committee meetings on King William Street livestreamed to less than 200 people.

Davis said he feels like Drake after Lomax-Smith posted an Instagram reel yesterday responding to a video he made earlier this week criticising how much council committee chairs get paid.

Lomax-Smith, always on top of pop culture, is comfortable with the comparison, telling InSider: “Well I’m happy with that reference, as I’m pretty sure Kendrick Lamar won said feud.”

Of course, in their diss track battle, Kendrick had harsher words for Drake than Lomax-Smith’s putdown, which included “occasionally downright silly”.

Watch the video

This is Lomax-Smith’s first public stand against Davis’ social media content, having previously issued defamation warnings to Davis over comments he made in the council chamber, and via Instagram videos that were republished on The Adelaide Set last year.

This round of Instagram beef started when one of the Adelaide City Council’s committee meetings finished ahead of schedule on Tuesday night – a rare occurrence. Since the committee meetings are double-billed, staff and attendees are left lingering the halls or running out for a quick bite as the council isn’t allowed to start the second meeting any earlier than the time set on the agenda.

In the break before the next meeting, while some councillors enjoyed their dinners, Henry Davis did what he does best: took to Instagram.

Davis’ video slammed the council’s committee structure, saying it’s “overly complex” and allows councillors to earn $1500 an hour despite chairing a committee for only 20 minutes on this particular evening.

InSider wondered if this move from Lomax-Smith would inadvertently give Davis extra Instagram traffic. At the time of writing, Davis’ reel has 1914 views on Instagram, while Lomax-Smith’s has 4486. Although Davis is active in the comments and does have supporters on his own post, the overwhelming sentiment in Lomax-Smith’s comment section is that she’s “an icon”.

In the words of Charli XCX and Lorde, perhaps Davis and Lomax-Smith can work it out on the remix?