Advance shreds Basil Zempilas and issues warning to other Coalition MPs

A major conservative group has threatened to target Coalition MPs who don't fall in line after WA Liberal leader Basil Zempilas broke ranks on key policy positions.

WA Liberal leader Basil Zempilas. Picture: NewsWire / Philip Gostelow

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West Australian Liberal leader Basil Zempilas has been labelled a “loser” by lobby group Advance Australia after the former media personality distanced himself from party motions opposing net zero and Indigenous symbolism.

Advance – a conservative body best known for its strong opposition to the Indigenous voice referendum and which campaigned aggressively against Labor in the lead-up to the federal election – launched its attack on Mr Zempilas on Tuesday, while signalling it would also go after other Coalition MPs who did not embrace its positions.

In a statement to The Australian, Advance executive director Matthew Sheahan said Mr Zempilas had made “a big mistake on the weekend by selling out battling Aussies instead of voting to dump net zero”.

“Instead of standing with WA families, he chose to support an energy policy that will destroy his state’s economic prosperity,” Mr Sheahan said.

“If Basil Zempilas thinks hiking power bills and taking land off farmers is an election winner, he may as well quit now.”

Advance executive director Matthew Sheahan. Picture: NewsWire / Richard Gosling

Motions calling on the Sussan Ley-led federal opposition to abandon net zero, ditch welcome to country ceremonies and limit official flag recognition to the national, state and territory flags were overwhelmingly supported by members at a meeting of the WA Liberal Party’s state council on Saturday.

The net zero motion had been publicly backed by senior Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, while Michaelia Cash – the most senior federal Liberal MP from WA and the party’s leader in the Senate – had endorsed the motions on welcome to country ceremonies and the flag.

All three motions, while non-binding, were seen as putting pressure on Ms Ley, who has tried to avoid “culture war” issues since narrowly securing the party leadership in the wake of Peter Dutton’s defeat.

Mr Zempilas on Monday said the parliamentary arm of the WA Liberal Party continued to support the status quo on all three issues, and that he was “very comfortable” with both welcome to country ceremonies and standing in front of the Aboriginal flag.

The comments prompted Advance to attack Mr Zempilas on social media, contrasting his position with those of Mr Hastie and Senator Cash.

“While Andrew Hastie and Michaelia Cash head in the right direction by opposing Net Zero, Welcomes to Country and dividing our country with multiple flags, the West Australia Liberal leader Basil Zempilas has decided he wants to be a loser,” Advance said on its Facebook page.

Advance has typically been seen as a strongly pro-Coalition lobby group, although it was a vocal critic of NSW then-Liberal treasurer Matt Kean and his climate policies.

Mr Sheahan said Advance was not afraid of calling out Liberal and National MPs.

“This is a warning for weak Coalition politicians, Advance will not stand by while you betray mainstream Australians,” he said.

Mr Zempilas, a former Channel 7 commentator and media personality, became WA Liberal leader despite having no parliamentary experience following his party’s emphatic defeat at the March state election.

He was one of only a handful of Liberal candidates to win seats at the election, with his party now holding only seven of 59 lower house seats.

He secured the leadership after his parliamentary colleagues made it clear they would no longer support his predecessor Libby Mettam.

Several of those MPs who supported Mr Zempilas’s rise to the leadership are also understood to support the motions opposing net zero and Indigenous symbolism.

Mr Zempilas declined to respond to Advance’s comments.