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Zempilas’ Northbridge apartment at centre of new spat with state government
A fresh barney has erupted between the state government and City of Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas after the mayor didn’t declare he owned an apartment less than 200 metres from Ruah’s proposed Northbridge women’s safe night space ahead of the council voting on its approval.
Women’s Interests Minister Sue Ellery accused Zempilas of failing to disclose an impartiality interest in a planning item that affected property he had a personal interest in.
City of Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas.
Zempilas, who will be rubber-stamped as the WA Liberal candidate for Churchlands, rubbished Ellery’s criticism and said he raised his property ownership with the city’s governance team before the council meeting on February 27 which advised him he did not need to make any declaration.
The long-running Ruah safe night space saga came to a head at that meeting as councillors approved an application to allow the community service provider to operate the space from its James Street facility in Northbridge – subject to several conditions.
Ruah will fight those conditions in the State Administrative Tribunal, with chief executive Debra Zanella concerned they were too heavy-handed and open-ended – particularly a requirement to operate the facility to the city’s “satisfaction”.
Ruah’s application had the backing of the state government, which butted heads with Zempilas and the Perth council over its decision to cease funding the safe night space in East Perth.
The safe night space is the latest in the myriad issues Zempilas has gone to war with the state government over, including the future East Perth Primary School site, the Perth parking levy, and the WACA Pool.
Zempilas owns an apartment about 180 metres away from the James Street facility, which he declared an “impartiality interest” when the council first voted on Ruah’s application to operate as a community centre in 2022.
He voted against this application, which was overturned by then-planning minister Rita Saffioti.
Zempilas did not declare an impartiality interest ahead of the council’s debate on the safe night space application last month.
Ellery accused Zempilas of keeping his property a secret, which added to the confusion over his management of what should have been a straightforward approval of a women’s shelter.
“The lord mayor’s failure to disclose this conflict of interest before moving to impose extra conditions on the safe night space service doesn’t pass the pub test,” she said.
“He added conditions that are directly related to the amenity of the local area – the area that he has a personal property interest in.
“Protecting vulnerable homeless women should be a straightforward proposition – the lord mayor needs to explain his actions and failure to be transparent with Western Australians.”
But Zempilas refuted the government’s claims he deliberately did not declare his property.
He said when Ruah’s first application for the James Street property came up in 2022 he declared an impartiality interest out of an abundance of caution, but had received advice from the city since that the property did not require disclosure.
“I declared an impartiality interest until I was able to check with the city governance team,” he said.
“In doing so I was told I did not have to declare proximity or impartiality because none existed and therefore made no further declarations in relation to this matter.”
According to local government disclosure of interest guidelines, proximity interests only apply if a use of land application is applied to a property that adjoins land owned by a councillor.
Impartiality interests are more opaque, with the Department of Local Government, Sport and Culture offering the following advice to councillors:
“If you were to participate in assessment or decision-making without disclosing an interest, would you be comfortable if the public or your colleagues became aware of your association or connection with an individual or organisation?” it said.
“Do you think there would be a later criticism of a perceived undisclosed interest if you were not to disclose?”
Impartiality interests do not require councillors to leave meetings or preclude them from voting on items.
“Following disclosure of an interest affecting impartiality, the member’s involvement in the meeting continues as if no interest existed. This recognises that everyone has interests and relationships which affect the way they think and feel,” the department said.
Two Perth councillors declared an impartiality interest at the February meeting, including David Goncalves, who declared he knew an employee at Ruah, and Viktor Ko, who said he had worked in the homelessness space between February 2022 and 2023 as a GP.
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