Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas fires back at Labor MP David Scaife after being called a ‘B-grade TV personality’

Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas insists his character has not been assassinated after he was called a “phony”, a “fraud”, and a “B-grade TV personality” in Parliament by an “ill-disciplined” politician he said he has “literally never heard of”. Mr Zempilas instead said his feathers were unruffled after Labor MP David Scaife lashed out at him in a bizarre speech to Parliament on Thursday. While saying Mr Scaife’s comments were “strong words” that he found “very surprising and very unusual,” he denied being a victim of character assassination. “I’m not going to buy into that. I’m pretty confident that my career and body of work over 30 years and four years as the Lord Mayor speaks for itself,” he told 6PR on Friday. Mr Zempilas added: “If I am lucky enough to get into Parliament, I would hope that I would never act in that way.” “We’ve heard others carrying on like pork chops in there and it shouldn’t be in there,” he said. “I will do everything to try and raise the bar, not lower it because that sort of stuff sets a shocking example for our community.” Mr Zempilas claimed he had “literally never heard” of Mr Scaife, the Member for Cockburn, and thought a journalist calling for his reaction to the comments was referring to the “motor racing driver”. Referring to The West Australian’s front page on Friday, which carried the headline “Basil the B-Grader”, Mr Zempilas was questioned about whether that was a good or “bad thing” for Labor. “They seem to see me as a rival, they seem to try and catch themselves from mentioning me, and then one of their ill-disciplined members falls into the trap, or part of their plan, and in the lead-up to an election, I’m on the front page of The West from the top to the bottom, you reckon you think that’s a good thing for them or not?” he replied. Following Mr Zempilas’ comments, Housing Minister John Carey doubled down, saying he would not give the endorsed Liberal candidate a B-grade. “I’d give him an F for fail,” he said. Mr Carey said added: “Can I be frank? We’re not talking about the Pope here. Basil Zempilas is not the Pope.” “He’s out there, he’s on this program, on his social media, in his column, making constant attacks on ministers. He’s mocked the Italian surname of Rita Saffioti. Basil Zempilas has a glass jaw. “He’s very happy at every opportunity to dish it out, but when he’s held to account about opposing a primary school in our city or closing down a women’s shelter, he just doesn’t like it.” The majority of Labor MP’s in Parliament name-checked Mr Zempilas during Thursday’s explosive debate on legislation to acquire land behind the WACA for a new primary school development. The State Government has accused the City of Perth of withdrawing from a handshake deal to hand the land over, in return for removing land-use restrictions to improve the site’s value. Mr Zempilas said due diligence was required when the plan was announced in April 2023 and later demanded the Government pay compensation of up to 40 million dollars. The Government refused, instead introducing legislation to transfer the land. The Queens Gardens Car Park bill passed the legislative assembly on Thursday, 37 votes to six with all Opposition MP’s voting against it.