Housing Minister and Member for Perth John Carey has renewed hostilities with City of Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas, accusing him of using the city to push his state political agenda.
Housing Minister and Member for Perth John Carey has renewed hostilities with City of Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas, accusing him of using the city to push his state political agenda.
Mr Carey hit out at Mr Zempilas’ use of city branding to promote a parliamentary petition he tabled on Monday, opposing the state’s push to build a primary school on the Queens Gardens car park site in East Perth.
Mr Zempilas, who is also the Liberal candidate for Churchlands at next year's state election, is listed as principal petitioner on the e-petition, titled Support Private Property Rights, which has garnered more than 1,300 signatures since it was posted on September 30.
Any member of the public can lodge a petition with parliament. But all petitions put to the parliament must be facilitated by a sitting member.
Mr Zempilas’ is facilitated by Liberal MP Neil Thomson – a fact Mr Carey has taken issue with.
Mr Carey has repeatedly come to blows with Mr Zempilas and the City of Perth over the location of the East Perth primary school.
He used a LinkedIn post to accuse the Lord Mayor of blurring the lines between his Liberal and City responsibilities.
“The Lord Mayor’s actions are seeking to delay the East Perth Primary Primary [sic] School and he is ignoring council rules to do it,” Mr Carey claimed.
“Yet again he can't manage his conflict of interest using City of Perth logo and resources to push a WA Liberal party sponsored petition not authorised or formally endorsed by council.”
Mr Carey said it was disappointing that the majority of councillors at City of Perth “say nothing in regards to the deterioration of basic council governance”.
The post in question was published on Mr Zempilas’ personal Instagram account, and featured City of Perth branding.
The Lord Mayor’s petition is in line with the city’s stance on the matter. The city has confirmed its approach on the matter with the WA Local Government Association.
The proposed school site is City of Perth land which has been valued by the city at $40 million.
After months of back and forth between the city and state and a stalemate over its value, the state government repealed a 64-year-old act which stood in the way of the school’s development – a move the Lord Mayor likened to stealing from ratepayers.
Speaking to Gary Adshead on 6PR this morning, Mr Zempilas said he had lodged the petition in his capacity as Lord Mayor.
“It is a Basil Zempilas petition as the Lord Mayor of the City of Perth,” he said.
Mr Zempilas was animated when pressed on whether the Liberal Party’s support of the stance constituted a conflict of interest.
“The Liberal Party, as does Brad Pettitt, for example – a Greens member of the upper house – they support private property rights.
“They support the rights of owners of land to be compensated if that land is taken away.”
Mr Zempilas said he had advocated for an inner-city primary school since 2020, but that the city expected to be compensated for its land.
“The City of Perth and its ratepayers actually purchased this land off of private property owners back in the 60s,” he said.
Mr Zempilas said the legislation which prevented the car park from being used for purposes other than as a car park was redundant, but that the government had only removed it to suit its own purposes.
The government has offered the city $4.2 million to cover lost parking revenue at the site and a separate plot of land for development.
Mr Carey has also said the new school would bring in up to $60 million for the city.
The state government intends to have the new school up and running in 2029.
Mr Zempilas will take a leave of absence from his position as Lord Mayor during the formal election campaign in 2025. The election is scheduled for March 8.