Perth Voice Interactive

A CONTENDOR has stepped up for October’s lord mayoral elections, with councillor Sandy Anghie announcing she’ll challenge incumbent Basil Zempilas for the top job.

Cr Anghie, an architect by day, was elected in 2020 with the highest vote of any council candidate in a crowded field of 27 candidates. 

She also made a concurrent tilt for the lord mayoral role that year, but Mr Zempilas dominated that race getting 29.44 per cent in a six-way race, with Cr Anghie getting 9.57 per cent.

We asked Cr Anghie what she would do differently this time round to have a better shot against Mr Zempilas.

“This time I’m starting a lot earlier,” Cr Anghie says. 

“Last time I had just come back from maternity leave, so I think early August I declared. 

“This time I’m declaring earlier, and obviously in the last two and a half years I’ve got to know and build relationships with a lot more people.

“I’ve already started doorknocking yesterday and today along West Perth and I’ll be hitting the other neighbourhoods in the next few days and over the coming weeks and months.”

Cr Anghie has decided not to re-nominate as a councillor this time round, so she’ll be off council if her lord mayoral run isn’t successful. 

As a councillor she’s been prolific in lodging notices of motion – a request for staff to take some strategic direction set by councillors. 

Of her 21 notices of motion, 16 have been successfully endorsed by a majority of councillors, including setting up an LGBTQIA+ advisory group and lighting plans for laneways and landmarks.

Action

But getting action on some of them has been slow, and Cr Anghie feels as lord mayor she’ll be able put more impetus on getting them sorted. 

“There’s a lot on the admin’s plate to action,” Cr Anghie says. 

“Basil’s got different areas of focus than I have, and as lord mayor you’re leading the city, so that’s the key.”

The main selling point for her mayoral campaign is to turn Perth into a 24-hour city year-round, and put more focus on the city’s neighbourhoods, “fostering their unique identities”. 

There are six distinct areas in Perth council’s domain – Central Perth, Claisebrook, Crawley-Nedlands, East Perth, Northbridge, and West Perth – and occasionally residents in the non-CBD areas have said they felt left out by a city-focused council.

Mr Zempilas, who endorsed Cr Anghie’s candidacy in 2020, welcomed her announcement.

He said at the May 30 council meeting: “I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Cr Sandy Angie on her candidacy for lord mayor… as I’ve said many times the spirit of competition is something that we foster and certainly encourage.

“Sandy ran at the last lord mayoral election and I’m delighted to see that she will be stepping forward again.

“I’m a touch sad to see, from what I’ve read, that Cr Angie has indicated running for lord mayor only and not for council. 

“As I’ve said many times Cr Angie has made a fine contribution to our Council and to this chamber and it’s with some regret that if results do not go her way she will not be here beyond October.”

This will be the first council election to use the state government’s new preferential voting system, which would kick in for the lord mayoral race if more than two candidates emerge.

by DAVID BELL