Latest news with #Zempilas
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Conor McGregor's BKFC faces ban as Australian leader slams 'brutal' sport
The Irishman was confirmed as a part owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship last year, but not everyone seems to be onboard with the promotion Conor McGregor has been dealt a huge blow after an Australian politician revealed he is leading calls for bare knuckle fighting to be permanently banned in the country. The Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, co-owned by McGregor, was set to make its Australian debut in Perth this July. However, the WA Combat Sports Commission has rejected the application. In response to this development, Australian Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas is urging the State Government to completely outlaw the sport, asserting it has no place in Western Australia. "It was very clear that a significant majority of Western Australians did not want this brutal sport to be coming to Perth," He continued: "It should not have taken this long, and there are still lots of questions," said Zempilas. He further added: "We don't know what criteria was not met, or how the decision was reached. We don't know whether there were discussions between the Minister and the Commission, and it would appear the door is still open." Zempilas is convinced that a ban is the only appropriate measure to prevent future applications. "That's what we want. Clearly that's what the people of Western Australia want," the 53-year-old said. "It sets a bad example, there is very little demand. And it took the long way and a confusing way to get there, but I'm pleased that the common sense decision was ultimately reached." Last year, the former dual-weight UFC champion and his company "McGregor Sports and Entertainment" became part-owners of BKFC, which has since seen a stunning growth, staging events worldwide with McGregor often in attendance. However, not everyone is thrilled about the bare-knuckle fighting promotion. However, not everyone appears to be onboard with the promotion. Zempilas' comments were echoed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Speaking to Triple M, Albanese said: "A bit of common sense - you've got to look after people's health a bit and maybe save people from themselves. I just think we've got to be much more conscious about health issues." When asked directly about bare knuckle fighting, the Prime Minister replied: "It's a bit crazy!" BKFC President David Feldman had previously insisted that the event would still go ahead. The lineup was set to feature ex-UFC heavyweight Ben Rothwell against Aussie powerhouse Alex 'Godly Strong' Simon, and 'Rowdy' Bec Rawlings slated to face Jade event was set to take place at RAC Arena on July 19, but with calls for a ban heating up, it seems very likely that the BKFC will struggle to host an event in Australia. Recently, McGregor vowed to compete in BKFC despite the controversy. "Yes. Yes. The warrior spirit burns strong inside me," he said at a BKFC press conference in Italy earlier this year. "For sure. If you think I'm up here giving these speeches and leading these men into battle and I won't step in there myself, think again. For sure. Conor McGregor will fight in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship – mark my words." "I would wish to be the Bare Knuckle world champion. That is a significant belt to hold in your career. Nobody from boxing to mixed martial arts can speak nothing bad on a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship world champion. So for sure, I'd be coming in looking for the world title. "There are many bouts, showcase bouts you could say. Michael Perry, Mike Perry. You could say Jeremy Stephens. You could say a rematch against Eddie Alvarez. You could say many matches. But the lightweight title, who is the champion right now, lightweight or welterweight? Let's see. I'm open. We'll see when it comes."
West Australian
4 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Unlocking Pilbara housing possibilities a 'clear priority' for Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas after tour
Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas has taken aim at the State Government during a regional tour to the Pilbara, declaring housing is 'clearly not something they're doing well'. Mr Zempilas wrapped up the tour on Friday June 6 in Exmouth, after stopping in at Port Hedland and Karratha to meet with local businesses and industry. 'Housing is obviously something the State Government are not succeeding at now,' he said. 'One of the important reasons to travel to the regions and come out to experience the issues for local people first-hand is to get a sense of what the government are doing well and what they're not doing well, and housing is clearly something they're not doing well throughout Western Australia.' The Opposition Leader also cited Premier Roger Cook's announcement to build 100 homes for Perdaman workers in Karratha, saying it's 'barely going to touch the sides, and is only for workers'. 'To be able to grow the City of Karratha, for example, then we're going to need to be able to grow the population of the city, but you can't grow the population if there's nowhere for people to live,' he said. 'Housing is a huge priority for the entire Pilbara region, so finding ways to unlock the potential of the Pilbara by unlocking possibilities with housing seems to be a very clear priority, and it's certainly one for us to take back and give strong consideration to.' Housing and Works Minister John Carey said the State Government made significant commitments to boost regional housing, noting Government Regional Officer Housing, funding regional headworks through the Infrastructure Development Fund and delivering a Regional Housing Support fund to further support key worker construction. 'In coming years, we'll see even more economic growth in the Pilbara,' he said. 'This will include further expansion into clean energy, critical minerals, tourism and advanced manufacturing. 'These growth industries will require more local workforces and more housing. 'The Opposition remains devoid of any policies for regional WA, including housing in the Pilbara. 'In fact, the Opposition regularly campaign against residential development and have promised to increase planning system red tape.' Mr Zempilas said key issues such as healthcare in the Pilbara were also linked to housing. 'You can't get professionals up here if they don't have anywhere to live,' he said. 'It's very clear, that this has been, or still is, the most expensive city in Australia to live. 'Weekly rents are in the vicinity of $1200-$1300 per week, that's not affordable in many places. 'I appreciate there's a complexity to life in Karratha, there seems to be two speeds to the economy — those that are working in the resources industry and doing very well and able to manage or justify that sort of rental expense, but there are clearly many who are on the minimum wage, or even below the minimum wage, and that affordability is not in their realm.'
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
When Basil met Boonji: It was love at first sight, but not everyone is starstruck
When American artist Brendan Murphy offered to give the City of Perth a seven-metre sculpture of an astronaut, Basil Zempilas embraced it with characteristic enthusiasm. The former lord mayor saw the freebie as a cool, Instagrammable piece of public art that aligned perfectly with the recently elected council's rebrand of Perth as the City of Light, a reference to John Glenn's 1962 triple-orbit of Earth in which our young metropolis put on a glittering show for the future senator. Zempilas was so entranced by an artist collected by the likes of Serena Williams, Ryan Gosling and Warren Buffett gifting a piece valued at $1.5 million to the City of Perth — albeit a gift that would cost ratepayers about $250,000 for transportation and installation — that he became part of the creative process, feeding the Florida-based Murphy information on the city he grew up in. Fragments of the story Zempilas told Murphy can be seen in the text on the skin of our Boonji Spaceman (including the story of Glenn's famous flight), which was eventually placed in Stirling Gardens and unveiled on Thursday in front of a large media pack. Zempilas is so invested in the Boonji Spaceman (titled Lightening) that he took time out from his duties as the Liberal leader to attend the unveiling and to catch up with Murphy and Gullotti Galleries owner Paul Gullotti, who set up the deal and who is holding the artist's first Australian solo show (Zempilas also hosted the opening of the exhibit). 'Basil was the one who sold me on doing the project,' says Murphy in the lead-up to the unveiling of the Boonji Spaceman. 'He was so fired up about Perth and had this incredible energy. Here was the mayor of a major city who was genuinely interested in my work and wanted to bring it here. Loading 'I received a long email from Basil full of history and dates, including the story of John Glenn's flight. 'So this Boonji Spaceman is not a generic piece built on the other side of the world and shipped here. It's been created specifically for Perth and with input from someone who truly loves the place.' Zempilas said he told Murphy that Perth was 'very proud, it's adventurous, it's ambitious'. 'I note that he has adopted some of those,' Zempilas says. While Zempilas and Murphy were all smiles at the media launch, they spent much of their time answering questions about controversy swirling around the Boonji Spaceman, which has been sucked into more general criticism of the City of Perth's cavalier treatment of the public art works in its collection. Art activists believe that the city should not have paid a quarter of a million dollars for a work they claim has no merit and genuine connection to Perth. Even more galling for those pushing back against the Boonji Spaceman is that Murphy's piece has been placed on the plinth on which for half a century stood Ore Obelisk, Paul Ritter's monument to the mining industry which, critics argue, was not properly maintained and chopped up and removed without proper consultation. Now looming over the cherished Austaliana spread around Stirling Gardens — Joan Walsh-Smith and Charles Smith's kangaroos and Mae Gibbs' Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, statues of founding fathers and key historic buildings — is a hulking electric-blue space traveller whose clones grace public and private spaces in cities such as New York, London, Oslo and Riyadh. Prominent art critic John McDonald labelled the work as 'space junk' and compared the councillors who voted for Murphy's piece to be placed near Council House as 'a bit like Donald Trump deciding that the Kennedy Centre needs to ditch all that elitist crap and put on a great production of Cats or Fiddler on the Roof '. 'The arts are there to start discussions, to bring people into the room. It is what I hope the Boonji Spaceman will do.' Brendan Murphy 'It is not the role of the mayor to make decisions on art acquisitions for the City,' says Helen Curtis, a public art consultant who is leading the campaign to save both the Ore Obelisk and the Northbridge Arch, which were removed because of corrosion. 'The mayor's job is to promote the city and be a statesman. It is not making calls on works of art,' Curtis says. 'They can put something forward, like any elected member. But it must go through a proper process. 'Committees and advisory groups are a filter and safety net to ensure that the city does not find itself in this exact situation — paying an exorbitant amount of money for work whose connection to Perth is dubious and is so poorly regarded by the arts community.' Curtis believes that Zempilas managed to sway councillors and circumvent the normal procedures because he was an unusually high-profile and charismatic mayor, a well-connected media personality who during his single term brought a huge amount of attention to the city. She also believes the Boonji Spaceman represents a larger problem for the city and for Western Australia, in which the arts have been 'dumbed down' and subsumed by the grander project of branding, marketing and tourism. 'The Boonji Spaceman is a marketing stunt dressed up as art — and not a very good marketing stunt at that,' Curtis says. 'If the city wants to use art to draw tourists we need work that springs for here. Nobody is going to travel to Perth to see Ikea art that has popped up in Dubai or Miami or wherever. 'If the City wants something Instagrammable, we can do that here with authenticity. But fix the important works we already have first — that's what should be prioritised.' Murphy said he was unaware of the controversy swirling around his work until a couple of weeks ago. 'Not everyone's going to like it. But trying to stop it from being shown is shutting down discussion.' Brendan Murphy Since arriving this week, he's fielded questions from journalists about the appropriateness of a piece of American pop art sitting in a civic space, and a large piece of ratepayers money going to what is could be construed as an advertisement for a show. 'Whatever opposition there is to my Boonji Spaceman it has nothing to do with me. And it can't have anything to do with Basil because his motives are genuine,' says Murphy, a former professional basketball player and Wall Street trader who pivoted to art after watching many of his colleagues die on September 11. While Murphy has sympathy for the position of Curtis and the Save the Kebab movement — 'I stand by all artists,' he says — the Rhode Island-born sculptor and painter who counts Jackson Pollock, Jean-Michael Basquiat and Willem de Kooning among his influence does not want to be drawn into what he regards as a political dispute. 'Politics has no place in art. The job of the artist is to bring people together,' he says. 'I'm not interested in what divides us. I'm interested in our commonalities. I'm an artist. I'm not an American artist. All I care about is inspiring some young kid who dreams of one day being an artist.' Indeed, Murphy believes in remaining neutral even though he has recently had a show in the Kennedy Centre, which became a flashpoint for the resistance against Trump when he fired 17 board members and made himself the chair. 'When Trump said something stupid, as he always does, a group of singers pushed back and did not invite him to a show, which is why he got so angry and took over the place,' Murphy says. 'It was not their role. They should have sung for him and made their point. It's what Bob Dylan would have done. 'The arts are there to start discussions, to bring people into the room. It is what I hope the Boonji Spaceman will do. 'Not everyone's going to like it. But trying to stop it from being shown is shutting down discussion.' While the city says the Boonji Spaceman will be moved to Elizabeth Quay after 12 months, Curtis and her colleagues, who are fighting for the Kebab to be returned to the spot where Murphy's work now stands, remain convinced that Murphy's sculpture is here to stay. 'Our great fear is that in a year the city will announce that it is too costly to move the Boonji Spaceman and that it will be left there,' she says.
The Age
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
When Basil met Boonji: It was love at first sight, but not everyone is starstruck
When American artist Brendan Murphy offered to give the City of Perth a seven-metre sculpture of an astronaut, Basil Zempilas embraced it with characteristic enthusiasm. The former lord mayor saw the freebie as a cool, Instagrammable piece of public art that aligned perfectly with the recently elected council's rebrand of Perth as the City of Light, a reference to John Glenn's 1962 triple-orbit of Earth in which our young metropolis put on a glittering show for the future senator. Zempilas was so entranced by an artist collected by the likes of Serena Williams, Ryan Gosling and Warren Buffett gifting a piece valued at $1.5 million to the City of Perth — albeit a gift that would cost ratepayers about $250,000 for transportation and installation — that he became part of the creative process, feeding the Florida-based Murphy information on the city he grew up in. Fragments of the story Zempilas told Murphy can be seen in the text on the skin of our Boonji Spaceman (including the story of Glenn's famous flight), which was eventually placed in Stirling Gardens and unveiled on Thursday in front of a large media pack. Zempilas is so invested in the Boonji Spaceman (titled Lightening) that he took time out from his duties as the Liberal leader to attend the unveiling and to catch up with Murphy and Gullotti Galleries owner Paul Gullotti, who set up the deal and who is holding the artist's first Australian solo show (Zempilas also hosted the opening of the exhibit). 'Basil was the one who sold me on doing the project,' says Murphy in the lead-up to the unveiling of the Boonji Spaceman. 'He was so fired up about Perth and had this incredible energy. Here was the mayor of a major city who was genuinely interested in my work and wanted to bring it here. Loading 'I received a long email from Basil full of history and dates, including the story of John Glenn's flight. 'So this Boonji Spaceman is not a generic piece built on the other side of the world and shipped here. It's been created specifically for Perth and with input from someone who truly loves the place.' Zempilas said he told Murphy that Perth was 'very proud, it's adventurous, it's ambitious'. 'I note that he has adopted some of those,' Zempilas says. While Zempilas and Murphy were all smiles at the media launch, they spent much of their time answering questions about controversy swirling around the Boonji Spaceman, which has been sucked into more general criticism of the City of Perth's cavalier treatment of the public art works in its collection. Art activists believe that the city should not have paid a quarter of a million dollars for a work they claim has no merit and genuine connection to Perth. Even more galling for those pushing back against the Boonji Spaceman is that Murphy's piece has been placed on the plinth on which for half a century stood Ore Obelisk, Paul Ritter's monument to the mining industry which, critics argue, was not properly maintained and chopped up and removed without proper consultation. Now looming over the cherished Austaliana spread around Stirling Gardens — Joan Walsh-Smith and Charles Smith's kangaroos and Mae Gibbs' Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, statues of founding fathers and key historic buildings — is a hulking electric-blue space traveller whose clones grace public and private spaces in cities such as New York, London, Oslo and Riyadh. Prominent art critic John McDonald labelled the work as 'space junk' and compared the councillors who voted for Murphy's piece to be placed near Council House as 'a bit like Donald Trump deciding that the Kennedy Centre needs to ditch all that elitist crap and put on a great production of Cats or Fiddler on the Roof '. 'The arts are there to start discussions, to bring people into the room. It is what I hope the Boonji Spaceman will do.' Brendan Murphy 'It is not the role of the mayor to make decisions on art acquisitions for the City,' says Helen Curtis, a public art consultant who is leading the campaign to save both the Ore Obelisk and the Northbridge Arch, which were removed because of corrosion. 'The mayor's job is to promote the city and be a statesman. It is not making calls on works of art,' Curtis says. 'They can put something forward, like any elected member. But it must go through a proper process. 'Committees and advisory groups are a filter and safety net to ensure that the city does not find itself in this exact situation — paying an exorbitant amount of money for work whose connection to Perth is dubious and is so poorly regarded by the arts community.' Curtis believes that Zempilas managed to sway councillors and circumvent the normal procedures because he was an unusually high-profile and charismatic mayor, a well-connected media personality who during his single term brought a huge amount of attention to the city. She also believes the Boonji Spaceman represents a larger problem for the city and for Western Australia, in which the arts have been 'dumbed down' and subsumed by the grander project of branding, marketing and tourism. 'The Boonji Spaceman is a marketing stunt dressed up as art — and not a very good marketing stunt at that,' Curtis says. 'If the city wants to use art to draw tourists we need work that springs for here. Nobody is going to travel to Perth to see Ikea art that has popped up in Dubai or Miami or wherever. 'If the City wants something Instagrammable, we can do that here with authenticity. But fix the important works we already have first — that's what should be prioritised.' Murphy said he was unaware of the controversy swirling around his work until a couple of weeks ago. 'Not everyone's going to like it. But trying to stop it from being shown is shutting down discussion.' Brendan Murphy Since arriving this week, he's fielded questions from journalists about the appropriateness of a piece of American pop art sitting in a civic space, and a large piece of ratepayers money going to what is could be construed as an advertisement for a show. 'Whatever opposition there is to my Boonji Spaceman it has nothing to do with me. And it can't have anything to do with Basil because his motives are genuine,' says Murphy, a former professional basketball player and Wall Street trader who pivoted to art after watching many of his colleagues die on September 11. While Murphy has sympathy for the position of Curtis and the Save the Kebab movement — 'I stand by all artists,' he says — the Rhode Island-born sculptor and painter who counts Jackson Pollock, Jean-Michael Basquiat and Willem de Kooning among his influence does not want to be drawn into what he regards as a political dispute. 'Politics has no place in art. The job of the artist is to bring people together,' he says. 'I'm not interested in what divides us. I'm interested in our commonalities. I'm an artist. I'm not an American artist. All I care about is inspiring some young kid who dreams of one day being an artist.' Indeed, Murphy believes in remaining neutral even though he has recently had a show in the Kennedy Centre, which became a flashpoint for the resistance against Trump when he fired 17 board members and made himself the chair. 'When Trump said something stupid, as he always does, a group of singers pushed back and did not invite him to a show, which is why he got so angry and took over the place,' Murphy says. 'It was not their role. They should have sung for him and made their point. It's what Bob Dylan would have done. 'The arts are there to start discussions, to bring people into the room. It is what I hope the Boonji Spaceman will do. 'Not everyone's going to like it. But trying to stop it from being shown is shutting down discussion.' While the city says the Boonji Spaceman will be moved to Elizabeth Quay after 12 months, Curtis and her colleagues, who are fighting for the Kebab to be returned to the spot where Murphy's work now stands, remain convinced that Murphy's sculpture is here to stay. 'Our great fear is that in a year the city will announce that it is too costly to move the Boonji Spaceman and that it will be left there,' she says.
The Age
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Zempilas apologises for campaign content on Perth lord mayor Facebook page
Perth lord mayor-turned-Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas has formally apologised for breaching local government rules after using his council-linked social media profile in his campaign for state government. Zempilas stepped down as lord mayor as soon as his tight victory in Churchlands for the WA Liberals was confirmed in March, which complicated a Local Government Standards Panel ruling that he provide a public apology for the minor breach. His apology was published on the City of Perth's Facebook page late Tuesday afternoon. 'A complaint was made to the Local Government Standards Panel, in which is (sic) was alleged that I contravened [local government regulations], when I did not maintain an appropriate division between my position as Lord Mayor of the City of Perth and a Liberal candidate for pre-selection in certain campaign material,' Zempilas said in the post. 'The panel found that I breached Regulation 18 as my conduct was improper and undertaken for my own personal advantage. 'I acknowledge that I should not have used my title of Lord Mayor in such a manner and I now apologise to the public and my fellow councillors.' WAtoday understands the complaint was lodged in early 2024 by Naijiao 'Jason' Bo, a former City of Perth candidate who ran alongside lord mayoral hopeful Sandy Anghie in 2023. The panel ordered Zempilas to issue a public apology in the council chamber after the minor breach of local government rules that it said blurred the line between his mayoral and candidate roles. The deadline was April 22.
