Zempilas says he’s unscathed by rough week in politics

Perth Lord Mayor and Liberal candidate for Churchlands Basil Zempilas says the past week of political turmoil has not damaged his election chances.

Speaking to 6PR’s Gary Adshead this morning he maintained he did not lie about his connection to the polling, facilitated by his former campaign manager Cam Sinclair, that triggered a challenge of Libby Mettam’s Liberal leadership.

When asked whether this week had damaged his prospects at next year’s state election Zempilas said: “I don’t think so.”

Zempilas has been under increased pressure from Labor ministers this week seeking to exploit the chaos in the Liberal Party as the number of days until the election dropped below 100.

In Parliament on Thursday, Housing Minister John Carey accused Zempilas of blatantly lying to the public in denying he knew Sinclair’s Ammo Marketing agency facilitated the Sodali & Co poll.

The poll had suggested Zempilas replacing Mettam as leader would improve the Liberal primary vote in target seats by 7 per cent.

Zempilas told Adshead he accepted it looked “unusual” but reiterated that until he read about it this week he did not know about the poll or that it had been facilitated by Sinclair, who stepped aside as his campaign manager on Thursday.

“The events of this week were not of my doing, were not of my making, and were not of my encouragement,” he said.

“What other people were doing is a matter for them and clearly some people are no longer in roles that they previously were.”