Broadcaster turned-Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas has completed his rapid rise through the WA Liberal ranks to become the party’s new leader. Mr Zempilas was elected to the position unopposed at a party room meeting on Tuesday, just days after his win in the seat of Churchlands. Former leader Libby Mettam will serve as his deputy.
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00:00Well, he's best known as a sports commentator for the past few decades, also the Lord Mayor
00:07of Perth the past few years.
00:09Here in the West, we call him a Perthanality, but Basil Zemplis is now the WA Liberal Leader
00:14and he's hoping to become State Premier in 2029 after being elected unopposed at a party
00:20room meeting of Liberals this morning.
00:22The previous Liberal Leader Libby Messam did not recontest for the leadership, she announced
00:27that last week, clearing the way for Basil Zemplis who has been a leadership aspirant
00:31for some time now.
00:33His deputy will be the previous Leader Libby Messam.
00:36She conceded that after the Liberals' third consecutive electoral thrashing on March the
00:428th that she would not be contesting the leadership again.
00:46She said the party is ready for a reset and that Basil Zemplis is the person to take the
00:50party forward.
00:52Basil Zemplis for his part spoke about a reset for the party under his leadership and
00:57that it's now time to listen to the community and really engage with those disillusioned
01:02voters that have turned away from the party since 2017.
01:05Our absolute commitment amongst my colleagues behind me is that listening will be a priority.
01:13We will listen in the city, we will listen in the regions, we will listen throughout
01:17our electorates.
01:19Listening is what is going to give us the answers to those questions.
01:22The Liberals have narrowly secured official opposition party status, winning seven lower
01:28house seats, the seventh confirmed just overnight.
01:32That's compared to the National Party's sixth, so they've just scraped through to be the
01:35majority opposition party.
01:38They weren't in the last parliament.
01:40This means that now they'll have to consult and negotiate with the Nationals going forward
01:44about whether they want to be an opposition alliance as they were in the previous parliament
01:48with shared shadow portfolios or whether the Liberals and the Nationals will go their
01:53own way.
01:54But the consensus is that if they want to have a real chance at winning government in
01:572029, the two parties will have to find a way to work together.
02:01But those negotiations will unfold over the coming days and weeks.