Basil Zempilas: State Government land grab a horrifying abuse of power

1. What exactly does this State Government have against the ratepayers of the City of Perth? Not content with effectively stealing a $40 million parcel of land and offering no compensation, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis the unseen impact of the State Government’s audacious move to resume two City carparks, is to whack another 1.4 per cent onto the rates bill of City of Perth ratepayers. It’s a brazen act enabled by introducing legislation to parliament — or in layman’s terms, changing the rules to bully their way through. It’s an abuse of power and one every West Australian should be horrified by. Whose land will they come after next?

2. I see the Premier couldn’t wait to get his scarf on and get to the airport to welcome home our returning Olympians. And as we all know, there’s nothing anyone who has just come off a long flight from Paris wants more than to be met at the airport by Roger Cook and David Templeman. Does it get any better? Imagine how many selfies with Aussie gold medallists the Premier could have had if he’d opened his eyes to the (now absolute bargain) opportunity to bring the 2026 Commonwealth Games to Perth. Those champions could have been running around Perth for 10 days just two years after their Paris triumphs.

3. Seventeen thousand international Flight Centre customers can’t be wrong, they have voted Perth the best city in the world to visit — with a 96 per cent satisfaction rating. Imagine if the shops were opened after 5pm on a Saturday.

4. What sort of moron laces lollies with cannabis?

5. I genuinely hope Aussie breakdancer Rachael Gunn is coping with all the attention she’s suddenly getting. Personal, online abuse is never ok. But I do have some questions. Were the routines she performed at the Olympics the same ones that earned her qualification? Did she perform all of the necessary technical elements required? Why did her routine look so unlike what we have come to expect breakdancing looks like? Did she think her moves could win the judge’s acknowledgement, rather than the zeros she actually attracted? I hear the great chorus of support, but the Olympics is for the best of the best, that doesn’t necessarily mean winning of course, but did “Raygun” do everything she could to maximize the opportunity?

6. One more question, why are our NAPLAN results so bad?

7. Is common sense completely dead in Victoria? How ridiculous a local Council has banned an elderly crosswalk attendant from high-fiving kids because of the complaint of one parent. Decision-makers have to push back against this lunacy, not enable it.

8. To Brad and George, nice photo shoot boys, but any danger you might have lost touch with the real world?

9. The Logies can be a bit dull — but not with Sam Pang hosting. What have you got Sam?

10. If Jarrad Schofield gets the job as Eagles coach, fabulous, he deserves it. But why have so many potential applicants withdrawn without even going through the process?