Labor calls for Basil Zempilas to resign as Lord Mayor

Liberals are urging Basil Zempilas to focus his efforts on getting elected to Parliament, as Labor sought to capitalise on the unsuccessful leadership spill by calling for him to step aside as Perth Lord Mayor. As the fallout from Tuesday’s failed coup continued on Wednesday, senior Labor minister John Carey described Mr Zempilas’ role as “untenable”, accusing him of undermining Libby Mettam and campaigning in Churchlands at the expense of City of Perth ratepayers. The broadside came as Liberal insiders reflected on the move against Ms Mettam — which some labelled unnecessary and unhelpful — with Thursday marking 100 days until the State election. The party room motion, moved by shadow treasurer Neil Thomson, recommended appointing Mr Zempilas as the party’s “campaign leader” instead of Ms Mettam. The motion was defeated, and Mr Thomson announced he would resign to the backbench. One senior Liberal told The West Australian, on condition of anonymity, that Mr Zempilas needed to be wary of independents in Churchlands, and focus on winning it back for the party. “Basil is a great candidate, and I want to see him win the seat of Churchlands,” they said. “Given that the seat has drifted to independents in the past this has to be his number one priority, and like other Liberals I am keen to see him succeed.” Churchlands, won by Labor’s Christine Tonkin from the Liberals in the 2021 landslide, was held by independent Liz Constable from 1996 to her retirement in 2013. While there has been rumours of a Teal-backed candidate nominating in the seat, none had stepped forward. In neighbouring Nedlands and Cottesloe, independents have announced they are running. A senior Liberal source said Mr Zempilas had effectively skated through unscathed and the public still rated him as a prominent prospect. But they warned it was always dangerous to underestimate the power of the party room or make assumptions about how it could be controlled without having had the experience of being part of it. The source reflected on the experience of Malcolm Turnbull, both as federal opposition leader and prime minister, thinking he could bend the party room to his will and ultimately losing the leadership. Labor sought to seize on the internal disquiet, with Mr Carey calling on Mr Zempilas to resign as Lord Mayor, jumping on his reported links to the organiser of a bombshell poll which kick-started leadership speculation. The polling, published by The West Australian on Tuesday, showed a “catastrophic” result for the Liberals if Ms Mettam — who slammed the poll as discredited — were to remain leader. The results suggested the Liberals were on track to record a worse electoral result than 2021 in 14 winnable seats, while a shift to Mr Zempilas as leader would see the party earn a four per cent swing towards it. But reports emerged on Tuesday that the polling, commissioned by a Perth businessman, had been organised by Ammo Marketing — run by Mr Zempilas’ local council campaign manager Cam Sinclair. “I believe now it is appropriate that Basil Zempilas resigns as Lord Mayor. It is untenable, given that he is spending energy and time on Liberal Party politics, undermining Libby Mettam and spending more time in Churchlands,” Mr Carey said on Wednesday. “He’s supposed to be the full time Lord Mayor. He’s being paid by City of Perth ratepayers to spend every day in the City of Perth. “Clearly, that is not happening. He’s spending a lot of time campaigning in Churchlands, not even in Perth. He really should now do the honourable thing.” Both Mr Carey and Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti used Question Time to target Mr Zempilas and Ms Mettam over the party room. Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Zempilas denied any involvement in the poll. He also said he had not “thought about” whether the Liberal Party would win more seats if he was leader, saying he was focused on winning the seat of Churchlands. “I am in a battle royale (in Churchlands),” Mr Zempilas said. “I’m on the record as saying I don’t think there is an easy seat for the Liberals to win at the next State election. We can win a bunch of them, but we are going to have to work our backsides off and win them, door by door, vote by vote. “That’s where my energies are focused — on winning Churchlands. Do I think I can win? Yes, I do. But is it going to be easy? Absolutely not.”