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The lord mayor of Perth, Basil Zempilas, is calling for residents to sign a petition opposing what he called a “dangerous precedent” that would see the state take control of council property without compensation.
This petition was launched by Zempilas in September, after the council failed to stop the Western Australian government’s plan to acquire a city-owned car park in East Perth for the construction of a new school.
Plans for the development of a new school in East Perth were first recommended in the city’s Local Planning Strategy for May 2023, with the Western Australian government proposing to use two-thirds of the 2.6 hectares of city-owned land at the Queens Gardens car park in Nelson Crescent as the future site.
Perth’s local council challenged this proposal and highlighted the parking lot’s value of $40 million, and added that the state government’s acquisition of the land would cost the city’s ratepayers “513 parking bays and the ongoing associate revenue, equating to $1.5 million”.
The state’s government then introduced the Queens Garden Car Park (Inner City School) Bill 2024 in August of this year. Hitting back against the legislation, the city of Perth claims this bill will set a precedent of enabling the government to “compulsorily acquire the parcels of land without compensation” if passed.
The city of Perth then engaged in a series of unsuccessful negotiations and proposals with the state’s government, which failed to prevent the bill from advancing further through the legislative assembly and council over the course of September.
In response to these developments, Zempilas then initiated the petition, which has so far attracted close to 4,000 signatures and claims to:
- Support property rights and oppose unfair state government interference with those rights.
- Remind the state government that “property rights matter and that it is neither fair nor reasonable for the government to take land belonging to ratepayers without holding good-faith discussions and negotiations”.
- Attempt to pause the bill’s progress through the Western Australian Parliament.
- Or otherwise urge the legislative council to refer the bill to the standing committee on legislation for an inquiry to assess whether the state government’s proposed interference with the city of Perth’s property rights is “necessary, in the public interest, fair and proportionate”.
Submissions to the petition will close on 14 October.
In recent social media posts, Zempilas reiterated the City of Perth’s support of a primary school for the inner city, but stressed that “we also believe the city should be compensated for the land on which the school will be built”.
The lord mayor also took issue with the “dangerous precedent” posed by the legislation and shared that “if the government can legislate to take city-owned land without fair negotiation – for nothing, and make it impossible to challenge it in the courts – whose land will be next?”
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