Powerbroker warns Basil Zempilas on working with WA Liberal ‘Clan’

WA political powerbroker Nigel Satterley has urged Basil Zempilas to think carefully before he commits to joining the state’s embattled Liberal Party.

Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas. Picture: Colin Murty

Nigel Satterley, one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in Western Australian politics – has urged Basil Zempilas to think carefully before he commits to joining the state’s embattled Liberal Party.

Mr Satterley, a property developer and long-time Liberal supporter who in more recent years has become a vocal supporter of WA’s Labor government, told The Australian that while Mr Zempilas had the potential to become the next Liberal premier, the party was still under the control of the so-called Clan group of conservative powerbrokers.

That Clan influence, he said, meant Mr Zempilas would struggle to attract funding and other like-minded candidates to the party. He would also have to take a ”significant” pay cut.

“I would be telling him to think hard and long about whether to do the job,” he said. “He’s got a great career, three great children and a great wife, so why would you want to do this when you’re such a long way back and it’s so hard to get funding and support?”

Mr Satterley also revealed he had recently allowed his longstanding party membership to lapse, despite fighting fiercely and successfully less than 18 months ago against a proposed expulsion motion. He said he could not remain a member of a party that remained under Clan control.

Mr Zempilas, a prominent TV and radio personality who has been Perth Lord Mayor since 2021, is expected to join the Liberal Party later this month in order to nominate for the historically blue-ribbon seat of Churchlands in the city’s western suburbs.

The Australian on Thursday revealed senior Liberal Party figures were already mulling whether Mr Zempilas should replace Libby Mettam as leader ahead of the state election in March next year.

While it would be highly unusual for Mr Zempilas to lead the party from outside parliament, it is not wholly without precedent, with Campbell Newman treading that path to the Queensland premiership in 2012.

Mr Satterley said Mr Zempilas had the right mix of skills to succeed as leader.

“Libby has tried her best but she hasn’t got the profile of Basil,” he said. “But Basil will have to demonstrate to the community that he is a great leader who can also get great candidates in.”

He also said Mr Zempilas’s leadership may not amount to much if he was unable to reduce the influence of the Clan.

“If you can put a wire brush through the place then fine, but they are in full control. That can make it pretty hard to be effective and run what you would call a constructive opposition,” he said.

“And as long as the Clan is in full control, the business community will give no money to the party. They’re going to struggle for funding, whereas Labor have got plenty of money.”

A cache of WhatsApp messages from influential party figures calling themselves The Clan, whose members included upper house MPs Nick Goiran and Peter Collier and former federal MP Mathias Cormann, was leaked in 2022 and shed new light on the influence of powerbrokers on the party’s preselection processes.

A scathing internal review of the party’s 2021 state election disaster recommended a wave of steps to reduce powerbroker influence, but Clan-aligned candidates were overwhelmingly elected to key office bearer positions at the party’s most recent state conference.

Mr Satterley’s falling-out with the Liberals dates back to 2017, when he called for the party to replace then premier Colin Barnett. He had since grown increasingly close to Labor, and has hosted lavish party fundraisers at his Peppermint Grove mansion.