Basil Zempilas elected as WA opposition leader unopposed

Former Perth lord mayor-turned-Churchlands MP Basil Zempilas has been elected leader of the WA Liberals and opposition.

Zempilas was rubber-stamped as leader at a party room meeting at Parliament House on Tuesday morning.

Basil Zempilas is the new opposition leader in WA.Credit: Hamish Hastie

Zempilas began his time at the Liberals’ helm by lavishing praise on his predecessor Libby Mettam, hailing her efforts as “incredibly stoic” and expressing appreciation that she would stand alongside him as part of the leadership team.

Fronting the media outside Parliament House following the meeting, the former Seven West Media personality and 6PR breakfast presenter said Mettam had been an inspiration, especially for candidates at the poll in which he was elected to the seat of Churchlands.

He said the road to the 2029 election started now.

“We will listen. We will hold this government to account, and we will work as a team every single day,” he said.

Zempilas said his party would commit to helping regional West Australians, and champion integrity of government.

That included lifting the standard of public debate in parliament.

“We’ve all seen how at times, the members of the government have addressed the members opposite. That doesn’t sit comfortably with anybody,” he said.

Zempilas said his party would be extremely hard-working.

“We will prioritise excellence, not just amongst ourselves, but excellence for Western Australia,” he said.

“We will be rigorous, and it’s something that many of us heard during our election campaigns, something that there is a longing for amongst the people of Western Australia. We will always champion and prioritise common sense.”

Zempilas brushed off concerns about a first-term parliamentarian leading the opposition.

“My view is it doesn’t matter how you get here, it’s what you do when you get here and what you bring with you when you get here,” he said.

Zempilas said his party would focus on wasteful government spending, including the Cook government’s plan to build a street circuit in Burwsood, and the floated plan to bring an NRL team to WA.

With Adam Hort’s win in Kalamunda, the Liberal party has secured seven seats in the lower house making it the official opposition party.

This avoids the need for awkward negotiations with the Nationals, which secured six seats.

Asked what the new opposition alliance arrangements would look like, and whether the Nationals would be involved in the shadow cabinet, Zempilas said his party would meet and discuss the arrangements over the next few days but did not rule out closing the cabinet to his regional colleagues.

Former Liberal leader Libby Mettam was elected as deputy leader.

Mettam said there was no animosity toward Zempilas for taking over the leadership, and she was excited to have new mates in the lower house.

“They’re not ordinary mates. They are mates with incredible work ethic. They are mates with extraordinary experience, and they are mates with a very clear focus, and that is on the best interests of Western Australians,” she said.

As new and old Liberal MPs streamed into the meeting at Parliament House this morning, they all expressed optimism for the next term in parliament.

Upper house MP and Liberal factional powerbroker Nick Goiran said the new leadership was both a reset and rebuild.

“We absolutely need to rebuild. We’ve got a big job ahead for us,” he said.

“The most important thing, I think, that arises as a result of this election is that, thankfully, the government doesn’t have total control of the upper house.”

Goiran bristled at questions over whether he wielded power in the party still.

“I think that I’ve answered those questions heaps of times before. There’s nothing strange in politics that people work together,” he said.

Upper house MP Steve Thomas said the Liberals needed to do everything differently this term.

“We need to reach out to the people differently. We need to develop policies in a more robust manner, and we need to communicate what we’re trying to do better,” he said.

“All of those things have let us down in the last three elections.”

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