Liberal property tycoon Nigel Satterley throws his weight behind WA Labor in poll

WA’s most prominent property developer and Liberal Party member has given a glowing assessment of Labor Premier Mark McGowan, describing him as ‘a great leader’.

Satterley Property Group chief executive Nigel Satterley.

Western Australia’s most prominent property developer and Liberal Party member has given a glowing assessment of Labor Premier Mark McGowan, describing him as “a great leader” and his government as “one of the best in the past 50 years.”

Nigel Satterley, whose Satterley Property Group is one of Australia’s largest private residential property developers, says he ­remains a paid-up member of the Liberal Party but plans to host a $1500-a ticket-fundraiser to support Mr McGowan’s second bid for power in the state election on March 13.

“I think he’s a great leader … and I think he’s getting better and better,” he told radio 6PR on Monday. “I know a lot of leading Liberal supporters around Perth think he’s doing an outstanding job. He’s tough, he’s fair and he’s respectful.”

Mr Satterley said he did not support the new Liberal opposition leader Zac Kirkup, the 33-year-old adviser in Colin Barnett’s former government who replaced former Liberal leader Lisa Harvey in November.

“We’re coming up to a very important state election,” he said. “Your listeners should be very, very concerned about Mr Kirkup because he’s inexperienced (and) from the Barnett camp. He’s got no life experience, never run a family home and never run a business.”

He blamed two Liberal conservative powerbrokers, Peter Collier and Nick Goiran, for having too much influence on candidate preselections, saying: “Good people can’t get preselected.”

Two churches in Perth’s northern suburbs with Liberal connections were also overly influential in party matters, he said.

Responding to the comments, Mr Kirkup said he was worried about any donor who withheld a donation contingent on a political party taking certain actions. “That’s a very big concern for our democracy. We don’t accept any donations based on that.”

Mr Satterley praised the impact of Mr McGowan’s multi-­billion dollar stimulus building package on the state economy, but said property developers got no favours from government. Unlike NSW and Queensland, property developers are permitted to donate funds to political parties in WA.

Mr Satterley declined to say how much he had donated to Labor, but said all donations were properly recorded and financial support did not come with strings attached. “We have to honour the laws of the state,” he said.

He said he had worked with the McGowan government in successfully lobbying the Morrison government for a larger share of GST for WA.

The forthcoming fundraising dinner, which was postponed due to COVID but is likely to attract Perth’s most influential business and political figures, is expected to raise as much as $300,000.

The Australian reported last month the state Liberal Party will enter the campaign in its weakest financial position in more than a decade, with traditional business backers falling away.

Data released by the West Australian Electoral Commission showed that donations and other income to the WA Liberals in the past financial year were almost half the previous year’s sum, and were down 65 per cent from the peak recorded in 2012-13.