Libby Mettam quits as WA Liberal leader with Basil Zempilas to put hand up

Basil Zempilas is in the hot seat to replace Libby Mettam as WA Liberal leader after she resigned from the role 12 days after her party’s crushing defeat.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Mettam said she would have liked to continue as leader but did not have the support of the party room.

Liberal leader Libby Mettam conceding defeat at her function in Cottesloe on election night.Credit: Colin Murty

She will instead put her hand up for deputy leader when her colleagues meet next Tuesday.

“While I would have liked and hoped to continue as leader it has become clear that I do not have that support of my colleagues to continue as leader through to the election in 2029,” she said.

“I respect the honesty and considered advice of my colleagues as I have contemplated this decision.”

The decision paves the way for former Perth Lord Mayor and now Churchlands MP Basil Zempilas to become leader. He confirmed he would put his hand up for the role at a WA Planning Commission meeting in Floreat on Thursday.

“Yes I will put my name forward but beyond that, I make no assumptions,” he said.

Mettam shouldered some of the blame for the poor state election result but said leadership speculation throughout November did not help her efforts.

“While I take responsibility for our result it is very clear that the constant and ongoing leadership speculation and destabilisation in late 2024 was a significant contributing factor to our outcome,” she said.

“Labor capitalised on our leadership instability over the past eight years to their advantage.

“Whoever we select as our leader must be supported through to the 2029 election.”

Mettam was referring to a tumultuous period in November when leaked polling that suggested Zempilas as leader would yield the party better results at the ballot box. The poll – facilitated by Zempilas’ then-campaign manager Cam Sinclair – was used to mount a leadership challenge.

She said she would do nothing but support the new leader “publicly and privately”.

At a press conference later on Thursday Mettam said she had taken Zempilas at his word that he had nothing to do with the leadership speculation that damaged her campaign.

“Basil has been very clear publicly and also privately, that he had nothing to do with that, and I can only take Basil, or anybody at their word,” she said.

For the past week, Mettam has remained out of the public eye as counting continued in seats where the Liberal Party may be able to bolster its numbers, including Kalamunda and Albany.

She said she had consulted her colleagues and found she did not have the numbers to retain her leadership before making the announcement.

Asked whether it was a difficult moment Mettam replied: “No, not really.“

“I’ve always stated I will only continue as leader for as long as my parliamentary colleagues support me as leader, and I’m not willing to lead a team that doesn’t support me in that position,” she said.

Labor’s primary vote was down by 18 per cent across the state and far worse in regional and some outer suburban seats, but the party has still managed to retain 44 of 59 seats in the lower house. It was the second-best result in the party’s history.

Churchlands candidate Basil Zempilas greets Libby Mettam at the Scarborough Beach Road polling booth.Credit: Ross Swanborough

Mettam said it was not the result her party had hoped for.

Mettam’s decision will make her replacement the seventh leader of the WA Liberals in eight years.

She became leader in January 2023 after former Cottesloe MP David Honey pulled out of contesting a spill motion at the last minute. 

Honey had taken the reins of the party after its catastrophic election loss in 2021 which saw former leader Zak Kirkup lose his seat.

Before Kirkup the party had three leaders including Liza Harvey, Mike Nahan and Colin Barnett who left parliament shortly after his election defeat in 2017.

Mettam said her decision would help the party at the coming federal election.

At current counting Zempilas has been elected to the seat of Churchlands by just 376 votes over Labor’s Christine Tonkin, making it one of the most marginal seats in the state. But he said he’d been informed that the WA Electoral Commission planned to update that figure and it would show he had won by a bigger margin.

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