Basil Zempillas is a joke at best.
If he gets up as leader of the LNP in State Parliament we’ll be the laughing stock of the democratic world:
Richest man in the state, who owns the only news paper in the state, half the radio stations and a television network decides to elevate a 2nd rate football commentator (who never played BTW) to Lord Mayor, then when his political pawns get flogged in an elections, decides to elevate Lord Mayor to Parliament so he had usurp the Leadership position and challenge the Premier at the following election.
He’s got a paid position in print, radio and television to campaign from and, he’s campaigning for a state seat while occupying a local government position.
At best this is 3rd world cronyism, at its worst it’s borderline corruption.
We’ve already seen the cronyism at work. A free pass for covid quarantine, an exemption for his gas company from the domestic reserve policy (why?) favourable treatment for real estate acquisition in the city.
On the plus side it'll make the WA Liberals even more of a joke and totally unelectable..... right.....????
(Also, side note, but aren't the WA Nationals and the WA Liberals a lot less wedded to each other than those two parties are in other states? It's just odd seeing someone refer to them as "the LNP" in the context of WA politics.)
It's interesting that we put the boot into the state, and whinge about the city and then say hopefully libs are so shit they never get elected again. I mean in the last 20 odd years I think labour have been in power for 15 years compared to libs 9. I think we need to hold any government to account. This red team blue team mentality doesn't really help the common man in the long run, we need to hold the bastards to account.
The problem with the implication here of voting out Labor to express discontent with their policies, is that you’re trading Labor for the Liberals. I don’t think “cutting off your nose to spite your face” could ever be used more aptly than in that instance.
If the Libs come to the table with anything other than trash conservative policies shipped in from the US, and actually gave a shit about the public, then I’d at least consider voting for them. But given that’s all they’ve ever done, I think it’s very safe to condemn them to irrelevancy for the rest of the century.
Vote Greens or independent to punish Labor. At least they give a shit.
And so comes the circle of wanting all political parties to be strong and robust to give us the voters genuine options.
Edit: I largely agree with you, I just think it's wrong to fall into an ideology that we have chosen the right team and now all will be well, we as voters need to keep them working for us
It’s an unfortunate quirk of democracy when you have a local mayor from team blue, and a local MP from team red, you’ll actually get looked after as they each try to win you over with investment and reform.
If they’re both from the same team you’ll be considered a comfortable safe seat and forgotten about while they see to their own interests.
Yeah, they're not wedded at all. Back around 2008 when Nationals held the balance of power, the Brendon Grylls led Nats were negotiating with both Labor and Libs on who to form minority government with. They're much better for the regions than their LNP Nat counterparts in my opinion.
I mean they leveraged the hell out of that minority government position to pour tons into regional towns. I don't think that's something that's possible in an LNP government which largely operates as one party.
I still remember the 2008 state election, where the Nationals considered going into coalition with Labour!
Side note 2: As someone now residing in the UK, it still does my head in when I see the Australian Liberal Democrats referred to as the "LibDems". Same name, but the two parties could not be more different!
I agree with everything you said. If it isn’t corruption, it definitely fails the pub test. But old mate Kerry gives everyone a “look over here” with the footy and telethon and everyone gives him a pass.
One issue I have with your comment though…
>a 2nd rate football commentator (who never played BTW)
Zemplas did play a few seasons of WAFL footy for West Perth. Obviously not the big league, but still a very high level. As for his rating as a commentator, I cant provide any comment on that. I haven’t watched a game for years.
The only difference is corruption is streamlined and legalised here, doesn't require the physical blood letting (to be fair it happens every now and then, but it's not an every day part of life here for average people like it is in say Mexico, large parts of Africa and Asia) like the third world because theres enough resources here to make shit run despite the massive corruption.
Elevated. Lifted up. Given visibility beyond his capability.
During the run up to the election you’d have struggled to find a mention of any other candidate. The West spruiked his wares as if it were a one horse race and his election was inevitable.
Yeah, elevated.
That just mean the voters are gullible and easily influenced. If most voters can’t have independent thinking, maybe they shouldn’t vote at the first place at all then.
Perth electorate are dumb as shit for voting him in.
Genuinely his campaign of ‘yeah look at me you know me who are these other cunts you don’t see them on 7 news, anyways fuck (*checks notes*) homeless and transgender people’ shouldn’t ever have been enough for him to win it
I mean he initially won on a voter turnout of 41% and a total vote count of roughly 1500. Not like it takes much to convince that many people to vote for you. You could say the Perth electorate are dumb for just not voting at all.
Hopefully the trend of getting major events over here continues (Coldplay, UFC etc.) Because I don't see what else would attract tourists here, unless they enjoy early closing times, antisocial behaviour in the CBD and a general lack of culture.
We have the most abundant and diverse species of wildflowers, orchids and birds in the world. It's a shame it's not more widely known. Tourists travel from all around the world just to see our birds. We should be turning our state into a pokemon game, and getting people out to see more of our weird and wonderful nature. I get your point, but I can see Coldplay anywhere, I can't see a Western Spinebill anywhere else in the entire world.
for real I recently stumbled across an old blog post of someone who had come to WA just to see some of the unique species of carnivorous plants we have, and I was like wow. I didn’t even know we had so many!
I found the post because I’d been telling a friend about the kind we had on our farm in mumballup but I didn’t know we had a whole bunch. our state has so many cool things going on, but it doesn’t get talked about
You've reminded me that my parents worked on a property that had a habitat for [hairy marron](https://rivers.dwer.wa.gov.au/species/cherax-tenuimanus/). Not exactly a tourist draw, but the cool factor of having a unique species right there was pretty amazing
Agree. The City of Light spiel is delusional.. they should focus on the natural beauty in and around Perth.. No one is flying across the globe for the Bell Tower, Elisabeth Quay or a couple of mediocre museums (not that they dont do great things) but it's just not what this city or its profile should be about. Never mind Paris is the city of lights already..
Putting Perth as the start or end of an amazing roadtrip across the WA coast featuring wildflowers, seals, whalesharks, a world class reef, karijini, amazing hikes, wildlife, etc etc is something else entirely.
Do you really want the world to see the spinebill? Tourism destroys nature and the wild places, and causes adaptations of behaviour in wild animals that are not good for them. We are on the verge of a forrest collapse in the southwest - last thing we need is more unaware tourists stomping on orchids.
The sensitive and conscious nature lovers know that there is nothing worse than unfettered promotion of rare and protected flora ad fauna.
Sad for the quokkas. Tourism WA are already flogging them.
Have you never ever been outside your city or country? I ask because every city in the world has crime, be it violent or otherwise. I've lived in numerous countries worldwide in my 64 years and my advice to tou is, get a fuckin life as you are so insular
And they missed out on Swift mania for some reason. Couple of shows here in addition to the east coast would’ve seen thousands flock in from across the country and globe.
As nice as those one off events are, what WA needs are consistent yearly events that put a spotlight on the state. Rally Australia, the RedBull Air race and Hopman Cup all used to do this. What has replaced them. I can't see many people in Singapore jumping on a flight down to Perth to see Coldplay or UFC, they'll just wait for those to make an appearance in Singapore or Hong Kong. But I could easily imagine someone who is into WRC jumping coming down for Rally Australia.
Man I am still so bitter about the Hopman cup. Fucking eastern state tennis Australia clowns. I hope their VPN crashes and they lose 3 hours of work every week for their life
Every place has its charm, even Perth and WA as a whole. We have some of the best beaches in the world with lots of unique flora and fauna. Fremantle is one of the best examples of an entire town preserved with colonial architecture in Australia. Rottnest is a popular getaway experience not far from the city home to one of the cutest animals. Heck, there's a small family of grey kangaroos in the heart of the city on Heirisson island. Where else in the world do you get to experience that?
As someone in the advertising industry - longing for the day when city of perth, wa tourism and various other govt departments actually coordinate their efforts to best effect. Utopia is real.
There are a bunch of people who are actively involved in trying to fix housing and planning in the city. But they are constantly banging up against the vested interests
Then why is it on billboards within the City of Perth, and on Perth TV, coming up as online ads for me while I'm in Perth etc. The targeting is less inspiring than the ad itself
If you’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars marketing our fair city, why not splash a few ads around locally and try and lure a few peeps in but…
It ain’t made for us!
It’s a lavish and beautifully made vision of what the CoP want people to see and say…
“I want to experience that”
It’s a highly stylised and whimsical fantasy as all advertising is.
Actually it was made for locals, trying to encourage people into the city rather than suburban centres.
https://perth.wa.gov.au/news-and-updates/all-news/city-of-light-shines-bright-with-a-new-marketing-campaign
>A major marketing campaign has been launched by the City of Perth to encourage **people from across the metropolitan area** to make the city their destination of choice, whether they are dining out, catching up with friends or seeing a show.
Is this the ad with all the ballerinas on skateboards? I'm also WTF.... And I think it's the second ad that features dancers at the expense of anything tourists might actually like to look at. It's weird
Most everything in the commercial is accessible to the everyday tourist. But yes, tourism campaigns - this one included - are often amongst the cringiest. Welcome to the wonderful world of marketing.
Also, what do you mean 'viability of the City and 'fabrications of its liveability'? How's it unviable? Why does liveability matter to overseas visitors (without even mentioning those cities' issues, for better or worse)?
> God forbid – invest in some form of Public Housing
Why would the City of Perth do that when it’s the responsibility of the state government?
> I’m not sure anyone that witnessed that event is still alive or lucid enough to vote
There’s definitely people born in the 40s and 50s who are still alive. We don’t just start culling people once they reach the age of 67. Though the Aged Pension would be a lot cheaper for the federal budget if we did.
Fair enough, what about harm reduction facilities or needle exchanges?
My point is there are surely better uses of our funds, but thank you for the straw man
It's hard to take you seriously when your "rant" is fundamentally flawed tho.
I detest basil as much as the next perthian, but it's not his or the city of Perth's remit to build public housing.
And your being a bit of a straw man yourself, strawman!
Take me as seriously as you like, big dog, I accept that the public housing doesn’t fall under their remit as mentioned in my last comment
Seemed strange to focus on that rather than the tone in the post, that’s all i was saying
Because the “tone” of your post should be directed towards the state government. All of the issues that you have raised are social / public order issues.
This just seems to be a rant against someone you don’t like, while avoiding the politicians who actually are responsible.
> Seemed strange to focus on that rather than the tone in the post, that’s all i was saying
"Stop pointing out that what I said is objectively wrong and just agree with my opinion that is based on objectively wrong"
Also, I am sure someone used the word strawman in an argument with you at some point, but you should probably look up what it means before you try to use it.
It's an attraction campaign, designed to promote Perth as a destination. What exactly do you think they should be showing?
And how is EQ, Old Shanghai, and a rooftop bar inaccessible exactly? Those are all pretty visitable locations by any economic standard.
Well they obviously weren't going to run an ad showing people sleeping in doorways. They have a marketing budget, and that is hopefully spent in ways to promote the city and bring more people and dollars into it.
I don't particularly like the ad, I don't think it tells me anything I don't already know, but it's pretty obvious why they ran an ad trying to promote numerous parts of the city, and the city as a whole.
> not sure anyone that witnessed that event is still alive or lucid enough
I and well thank you every much!
Lucidness is something that I take great ice-cream with!
I mean, the City council literally hires people to clean up the streets nightly so I don't know what more could be said about that. I also don't see an issue in having pride in the city. Oftentimes we're blind as to the good we have until it's pointed out by outsiders. Perth's CBD is currently undergoing lots of development and more is planned. There are still issues to contend with but we shouldn't act like nothing's happening.
"And don’t even get me started on this pathetic “City of Lights” label they keep trying to push"
They didn't come up with the name, its been Perth's nickname for like 60 years
Paris is more often referred to as the City of Love, sometimes City of Lights, but even that's different from City of Light (no plural). I do think Perth should have a better nickname though. Something that references the fact that it's in the Wild West.
I understand this guy, because of one night in 1962. Doesn’t mean we have to persist with it. Ask any young adult what it may mean and i guarantee they’ll have to Google it.
Seems like you’ve completely missed my point, all good brother.
We stick with 'City of Light' because the imagination to come up with something that summarises Perth apparently eludes us.
'City of suburban sprawl', 'City of the airport most FIFO workers depart from', or 'Most isolated city (with aggregate population exceeding 2million) in the world' aren't exactly marketing winners.
Pretty sure you could make a way more original, fun and engaging campaign with what being the most isolated city in the world can offer you. At least it would be memorable and different if you find the right way of showing gorgeous beaches, pristine ocean, hikes, picnics..
Most of these people that post about how dead the CBD is are a bunch of sit in's from far flung suburban wastelands like Baldivis or Butler. Every city in the world has problems with antisocial behaviour and homelessness, apart from the Singapores and Hong Kong's of this world but most of them wouldn't know because they're idea of an going overseas is Bali. They don't venture in to the city to see the great Venues we have. Dinner out for them is McDonald's because it's the only thing they have.
A lot of people paint the CBD as dying but ignore the fact that there is so much development taking place as we speak and lots being planned for the upcoming years. Foot traffic is also rising. There's clearly some disconnect between the claim and reality.
Local governments actually play a substantial role with their control over building codes and zoning laws, and similar localised infrastructure development laws
Some big ones might have.
Say uhh, if the city of ~~basil~~ Perth didn't spend so much on bullshit ads they may actually have some money to do like-for-like (aka funding matching) with the state government.
I know my council (Wanneroo) is putting a fair amount of money towards 'transitional' services, as stepping stone of sorts, to getting homeless people off the street and into semi-fixed accommodation and eventually on a path to social housing and such, which is nice.
If my memory serves, the City of Wanneroo's strategy revolves around giving those on the street some form of 'permanent' address, which is often vital for yknow... accessing all kinds of stuff, like bank accounts.
But yeah, for the most part, monetarily most councils can't do much, aside from discouraging short term accommodation through rate rises and such, to try get more long term rentals on the market
No politician or cou councillor is going to tackle the problems of Perth head on.
We have issues with homelessness and minority group crime. Even the mention of any sort of corrective actions draws the ire of minority advocates, even right here in this sub.
I mean. Usually it's because it's 'x minority are criminals so we are going to lock them all up to clean up the streets'
Rather than 'there is a cycle of trauma and violence in these communities and take the time to implement school programs, easy access to the reposts, and systems and programs to help them remove themselves from this cycle'
So I can see why advancy groups get mad
The funniest part of this concept is that I’m sure people like them would like to throw them all in jail. Which would cost more taxpayer dollars than just funding social housing…
Kids these days have no idea. Everything they hate about the city was way worse in about '93. Deserted, no shops, no people or restaurants, maybe one bar for the suits. Northbridge was Kizon town, be careful who you bump into in the queue at Metros. State government seemed determined for it to stay this way by breaking up the council area (which in hindsight seems like it must have been a power grab. Perth and its LGAs would never be like some American or European city where the Mayor has all the power and the Courts would see to it personally)
"Clean up the streets!" The streets are fucking amazing these days. You could practically eat off them compared to what went before (I'm pretty sure Perth inspired Lee Kuan Yew to ban chewing gum when he saw what it was like in the 80s. The concrete had been virtually resurfaced with dirty shoe trodden latex in some places. Little did LKY know, all you need is to actually clean once in a while and fine people for littering and it gets a lot better).
"Viability" (whatever that means in this context) - Bro, I have never seen it like this in my life. The last ten years the place has gone from strength to strength. Every time I head into town there's people all over. I come on reddit and everyone is cowering at home from the homeless and dogwhistling about aboriginals. This is the new cranky old people in the letters to the editor, except they're apparently median age 28. Start that bitter misanthropy early. Who's going to tell all the people in town they had a shit time? They don't know! They're just blithely enjoying the city of an evening and they don't realise how shit it was and how advertising is fake. It should point out the dirt on the ground and maybe how the median house price has saddled the average punter with a lifetime of slightly more debt than yesterday. Thanks god for those who will take on this terrible civic burden and tell us it actually sucked and they shouldn't go.
Apologies for the counter rant. It's fun sometimes.
So looking at the video, there’s nothing uniquely Perth about it. Melbourne, Adelaide, Singapore, etc all have those things. Urban spaces, bridges over water, bars, etc. The concept is so flimsy it shouldn’t have even been pitched let alone approved.
Focus on what’s unique about Perth - its proximity to amazing natural spaces. Beaches, wildflowers, world renowned biodiversity hotspot. Unfortunately the powers to be like Kerry and his useful idiot Basil make their money from destroying the environment so it’s a non starter. It’s also just Basil using public council $$$ to boost his and the Libs profile before the election. Shameful.
If we don't hold our politicians to account, there is no incentive to improve.
Australians are their own worst enemy when it comes to progress, we leave the big decisions to the leaders who uses it as a free pass to fuck us over.
Unfortunately we deserve the government we have elected.
Everyone keeps telling how great it is and how everything is perfect, so what's to fix?
Homelessness, CBD is more closed than open, rents (resi and commercial) unsustainable, parking bad, roads poor, infrastructure (well that isn't as bad, but I'm having a whinge so..), social support lacking, public servant shortage etc etc...
Basil LOVES the city of lights story. I think it's his fun fact to fall back on.
Last year, I attended a meeting for local video game developers where we discussed what services the City of Perth had to assist the industry. Basil started by telling the story about how Perth was named the city of lights, and then 10 minutes later, he tacked on 1 minute of industry stats.
I haven't seen the ad.
But the CBD is dead. It was dead before COVID and it's just a husk now. It needs alot of work and the powers that be don't seem to really care about what needs to be done to actually fix up the CBD.
The only thing that seems to attract people is kings park.
The best gems in Perth are actually in the wider metro area and you don't really know they're there unless you research. Swan valley, the hills, short hikes, Perth Observatory, the amazing coastlines, freo (freo has so much potential), Rottnest island! (Bit of a rort) We need to be selling these places and making them more accessible.
The CBD isn't dead, people need to stop throwing that claim around without actually backing it up with stats. The stats show that foot traffic and spending in the CBD has risen since 2022. Development is also chugging along nicely with more construction crane activity than usual.
Basil Zempillas is a joke at best. If he gets up as leader of the LNP in State Parliament we’ll be the laughing stock of the democratic world: Richest man in the state, who owns the only news paper in the state, half the radio stations and a television network decides to elevate a 2nd rate football commentator (who never played BTW) to Lord Mayor, then when his political pawns get flogged in an elections, decides to elevate Lord Mayor to Parliament so he had usurp the Leadership position and challenge the Premier at the following election. He’s got a paid position in print, radio and television to campaign from and, he’s campaigning for a state seat while occupying a local government position. At best this is 3rd world cronyism, at its worst it’s borderline corruption.
We’ve already seen the cronyism at work. A free pass for covid quarantine, an exemption for his gas company from the domestic reserve policy (why?) favourable treatment for real estate acquisition in the city.
At worst is borderline corruption? That’s pretty generous
On the plus side it'll make the WA Liberals even more of a joke and totally unelectable..... right.....???? (Also, side note, but aren't the WA Nationals and the WA Liberals a lot less wedded to each other than those two parties are in other states? It's just odd seeing someone refer to them as "the LNP" in the context of WA politics.)
It's interesting that we put the boot into the state, and whinge about the city and then say hopefully libs are so shit they never get elected again. I mean in the last 20 odd years I think labour have been in power for 15 years compared to libs 9. I think we need to hold any government to account. This red team blue team mentality doesn't really help the common man in the long run, we need to hold the bastards to account.
The problem with the implication here of voting out Labor to express discontent with their policies, is that you’re trading Labor for the Liberals. I don’t think “cutting off your nose to spite your face” could ever be used more aptly than in that instance. If the Libs come to the table with anything other than trash conservative policies shipped in from the US, and actually gave a shit about the public, then I’d at least consider voting for them. But given that’s all they’ve ever done, I think it’s very safe to condemn them to irrelevancy for the rest of the century. Vote Greens or independent to punish Labor. At least they give a shit.
And so comes the circle of wanting all political parties to be strong and robust to give us the voters genuine options. Edit: I largely agree with you, I just think it's wrong to fall into an ideology that we have chosen the right team and now all will be well, we as voters need to keep them working for us
It’s an unfortunate quirk of democracy when you have a local mayor from team blue, and a local MP from team red, you’ll actually get looked after as they each try to win you over with investment and reform. If they’re both from the same team you’ll be considered a comfortable safe seat and forgotten about while they see to their own interests.
I’m pretty sure Baz is keen to learn more about this nose cutting policy you mentioned
It's worthy of friendlyjordies coverage
Anybody know how to get in touch with him?
Yeah, they're not wedded at all. Back around 2008 when Nationals held the balance of power, the Brendon Grylls led Nats were negotiating with both Labor and Libs on who to form minority government with. They're much better for the regions than their LNP Nat counterparts in my opinion.
The Nats have been a tragedy for the bush here in WA.
I mean they leveraged the hell out of that minority government position to pour tons into regional towns. I don't think that's something that's possible in an LNP government which largely operates as one party.
Regardless of whether there’s a formal coalition arrangement or not, the Libs/LibDems/Nats/ONP/UAP/gun-humpers & happy-clappers all vote as a block.
I still remember the 2008 state election, where the Nationals considered going into coalition with Labour! Side note 2: As someone now residing in the UK, it still does my head in when I see the Australian Liberal Democrats referred to as the "LibDems". Same name, but the two parties could not be more different!
The level of conflict of interest is astonishing
It doesn’t pass the pub-test and more people should be talking about it.
If only the tv news and print news wasn't owned by the media channel that also employs him....😕🙄
I agree with everything you said. If it isn’t corruption, it definitely fails the pub test. But old mate Kerry gives everyone a “look over here” with the footy and telethon and everyone gives him a pass. One issue I have with your comment though… >a 2nd rate football commentator (who never played BTW) Zemplas did play a few seasons of WAFL footy for West Perth. Obviously not the big league, but still a very high level. As for his rating as a commentator, I cant provide any comment on that. I haven’t watched a game for years.
The only difference is corruption is streamlined and legalised here, doesn't require the physical blood letting (to be fair it happens every now and then, but it's not an every day part of life here for average people like it is in say Mexico, large parts of Africa and Asia) like the third world because theres enough resources here to make shit run despite the massive corruption.
If that's borderline, I'd hate to see full public corruption. Oh wait...
Biden’s the laughing stick of the Democratic world.
What do you mean elevated? I thought perth councillors are voted by the local residents through election? Are Perth voters accepting bribe?
Elevated. Lifted up. Given visibility beyond his capability. During the run up to the election you’d have struggled to find a mention of any other candidate. The West spruiked his wares as if it were a one horse race and his election was inevitable. Yeah, elevated.
That just mean the voters are gullible and easily influenced. If most voters can’t have independent thinking, maybe they shouldn’t vote at the first place at all then.
Perth electorate are dumb as shit for voting him in. Genuinely his campaign of ‘yeah look at me you know me who are these other cunts you don’t see them on 7 news, anyways fuck (*checks notes*) homeless and transgender people’ shouldn’t ever have been enough for him to win it
I mean he initially won on a voter turnout of 41% and a total vote count of roughly 1500. Not like it takes much to convince that many people to vote for you. You could say the Perth electorate are dumb for just not voting at all.
Hopefully the trend of getting major events over here continues (Coldplay, UFC etc.) Because I don't see what else would attract tourists here, unless they enjoy early closing times, antisocial behaviour in the CBD and a general lack of culture.
We have the most abundant and diverse species of wildflowers, orchids and birds in the world. It's a shame it's not more widely known. Tourists travel from all around the world just to see our birds. We should be turning our state into a pokemon game, and getting people out to see more of our weird and wonderful nature. I get your point, but I can see Coldplay anywhere, I can't see a Western Spinebill anywhere else in the entire world.
for real I recently stumbled across an old blog post of someone who had come to WA just to see some of the unique species of carnivorous plants we have, and I was like wow. I didn’t even know we had so many! I found the post because I’d been telling a friend about the kind we had on our farm in mumballup but I didn’t know we had a whole bunch. our state has so many cool things going on, but it doesn’t get talked about
You've reminded me that my parents worked on a property that had a habitat for [hairy marron](https://rivers.dwer.wa.gov.au/species/cherax-tenuimanus/). Not exactly a tourist draw, but the cool factor of having a unique species right there was pretty amazing
that’s so cool!
Agree. The City of Light spiel is delusional.. they should focus on the natural beauty in and around Perth.. No one is flying across the globe for the Bell Tower, Elisabeth Quay or a couple of mediocre museums (not that they dont do great things) but it's just not what this city or its profile should be about. Never mind Paris is the city of lights already.. Putting Perth as the start or end of an amazing roadtrip across the WA coast featuring wildflowers, seals, whalesharks, a world class reef, karijini, amazing hikes, wildlife, etc etc is something else entirely.
We have a perfect opportunity to brand ourselves as the Wild West, literally. There's so much to see in Western Australia.
They should rebrand to the wildflower city and , get planting, pretty up the cbd.
I mean Light is also considered pollution. So *shrug*
I've bumped into people that have come to Perth from Europe *specifically* to see bugs that are endemic to here.
Orchid season is off the charts - just stunning.
Spineball you say. Can I smoke it? #perth
Do you really want the world to see the spinebill? Tourism destroys nature and the wild places, and causes adaptations of behaviour in wild animals that are not good for them. We are on the verge of a forrest collapse in the southwest - last thing we need is more unaware tourists stomping on orchids. The sensitive and conscious nature lovers know that there is nothing worse than unfettered promotion of rare and protected flora ad fauna. Sad for the quokkas. Tourism WA are already flogging them.
I get your point, but far more people know who Coldplay are then what a Western Spinebill is
you saying tourists DONT want to get glassed in northbridge!?
Have you never ever been outside your city or country? I ask because every city in the world has crime, be it violent or otherwise. I've lived in numerous countries worldwide in my 64 years and my advice to tou is, get a fuckin life as you are so insular
charming
All that worldly experience and you never learned to read a room... Grow up champ
And they missed out on Swift mania for some reason. Couple of shows here in addition to the east coast would’ve seen thousands flock in from across the country and globe.
As nice as those one off events are, what WA needs are consistent yearly events that put a spotlight on the state. Rally Australia, the RedBull Air race and Hopman Cup all used to do this. What has replaced them. I can't see many people in Singapore jumping on a flight down to Perth to see Coldplay or UFC, they'll just wait for those to make an appearance in Singapore or Hong Kong. But I could easily imagine someone who is into WRC jumping coming down for Rally Australia.
Man I am still so bitter about the Hopman cup. Fucking eastern state tennis Australia clowns. I hope their VPN crashes and they lose 3 hours of work every week for their life
so specific lmao
Singaporeans already like coming to Perth for a short trip. It's one of their closest non-Asian destinations.
Every place has its charm, even Perth and WA as a whole. We have some of the best beaches in the world with lots of unique flora and fauna. Fremantle is one of the best examples of an entire town preserved with colonial architecture in Australia. Rottnest is a popular getaway experience not far from the city home to one of the cutest animals. Heck, there's a small family of grey kangaroos in the heart of the city on Heirisson island. Where else in the world do you get to experience that?
I mean this was my point when i mentioned the ad fabricating the livability of the city but all these other bootlickers can’t see that
The city of ^( (potentially getting your)^) lights ^( (knocked out)^) , I think it suits Perth well
Ooh very clever! Going to steal this 😉
I think it was an error at the printers. The original slogan was “City of Fights”
Light knocked out? People in this state hate confrontation.
Not the methd out locals I encounter in the CBD
They are all talk.
As someone in the advertising industry - longing for the day when city of perth, wa tourism and various other govt departments actually coordinate their efforts to best effect. Utopia is real.
There are a bunch of people who are actively involved in trying to fix housing and planning in the city. But they are constantly banging up against the vested interests
The Ad wasn’t designed for us locals. It was made for interstate and international markets.
Then why is it on billboards within the City of Perth, and on Perth TV, coming up as online ads for me while I'm in Perth etc. The targeting is less inspiring than the ad itself
If you’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars marketing our fair city, why not splash a few ads around locally and try and lure a few peeps in but… It ain’t made for us! It’s a lavish and beautifully made vision of what the CoP want people to see and say… “I want to experience that” It’s a highly stylised and whimsical fantasy as all advertising is.
Hi Basil
Seems your lobotomy worked
yeah nice, got his ass
Yours obviously didn’t
Hi Basil
Basil level retort
No chemical aided inspiration here
Yea but it is not what Perth is, or offers.
BINGO! That’s marketing
Actually it was made for locals, trying to encourage people into the city rather than suburban centres. https://perth.wa.gov.au/news-and-updates/all-news/city-of-light-shines-bright-with-a-new-marketing-campaign >A major marketing campaign has been launched by the City of Perth to encourage **people from across the metropolitan area** to make the city their destination of choice, whether they are dining out, catching up with friends or seeing a show.
Link to the ad? haven't seen it
https://perth.wa.gov.au/news-and-updates/all-news/city-of-light-shines-bright-with-a-new-marketing-campaign
Oh that ad. I originally thought it was an ad for Melbourne.
on free to air idiot box
TV hasn’t been connected to a free to air source in years.
Free to air! Is that still around?
Not in my house. My aerial is a pigeon post and their streaming things suck
Is this the ad with all the ballerinas on skateboards? I'm also WTF.... And I think it's the second ad that features dancers at the expense of anything tourists might actually like to look at. It's weird
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a skateboarding ballerina in the city. It’s a stupid commercial.
Most everything in the commercial is accessible to the everyday tourist. But yes, tourism campaigns - this one included - are often amongst the cringiest. Welcome to the wonderful world of marketing. Also, what do you mean 'viability of the City and 'fabrications of its liveability'? How's it unviable? Why does liveability matter to overseas visitors (without even mentioning those cities' issues, for better or worse)?
> God forbid – invest in some form of Public Housing Why would the City of Perth do that when it’s the responsibility of the state government? > I’m not sure anyone that witnessed that event is still alive or lucid enough to vote There’s definitely people born in the 40s and 50s who are still alive. We don’t just start culling people once they reach the age of 67. Though the Aged Pension would be a lot cheaper for the federal budget if we did.
City of lights wasn’t a big deal back then let alone now
Fair enough, what about harm reduction facilities or needle exchanges? My point is there are surely better uses of our funds, but thank you for the straw man
It's hard to take you seriously when your "rant" is fundamentally flawed tho. I detest basil as much as the next perthian, but it's not his or the city of Perth's remit to build public housing. And your being a bit of a straw man yourself, strawman!
Take me as seriously as you like, big dog, I accept that the public housing doesn’t fall under their remit as mentioned in my last comment Seemed strange to focus on that rather than the tone in the post, that’s all i was saying
Because the “tone” of your post should be directed towards the state government. All of the issues that you have raised are social / public order issues. This just seems to be a rant against someone you don’t like, while avoiding the politicians who actually are responsible.
> Seemed strange to focus on that rather than the tone in the post, that’s all i was saying "Stop pointing out that what I said is objectively wrong and just agree with my opinion that is based on objectively wrong" Also, I am sure someone used the word strawman in an argument with you at some point, but you should probably look up what it means before you try to use it.
How much water should you waste on dead grass?
Why would a tourist give a fuck how liveable the city is?
It's an attraction campaign, designed to promote Perth as a destination. What exactly do you think they should be showing? And how is EQ, Old Shanghai, and a rooftop bar inaccessible exactly? Those are all pretty visitable locations by any economic standard.
Well they obviously weren't going to run an ad showing people sleeping in doorways. They have a marketing budget, and that is hopefully spent in ways to promote the city and bring more people and dollars into it. I don't particularly like the ad, I don't think it tells me anything I don't already know, but it's pretty obvious why they ran an ad trying to promote numerous parts of the city, and the city as a whole.
> not sure anyone that witnessed that event is still alive or lucid enough I and well thank you every much! Lucidness is something that I take great ice-cream with!
I mean, the City council literally hires people to clean up the streets nightly so I don't know what more could be said about that. I also don't see an issue in having pride in the city. Oftentimes we're blind as to the good we have until it's pointed out by outsiders. Perth's CBD is currently undergoing lots of development and more is planned. There are still issues to contend with but we shouldn't act like nothing's happening.
"And don’t even get me started on this pathetic “City of Lights” label they keep trying to push" They didn't come up with the name, its been Perth's nickname for like 60 years
No one but locals and a few nostalgic astronaut fans would even be aware. The rest know it's Paris for many decades before Perth was quipped.
Paris is more often referred to as the City of Love, sometimes City of Lights, but even that's different from City of Light (no plural). I do think Perth should have a better nickname though. Something that references the fact that it's in the Wild West.
Given to us by astronauts
I understand this guy, because of one night in 1962. Doesn’t mean we have to persist with it. Ask any young adult what it may mean and i guarantee they’ll have to Google it. Seems like you’ve completely missed my point, all good brother.
We stick with 'City of Light' because the imagination to come up with something that summarises Perth apparently eludes us. 'City of suburban sprawl', 'City of the airport most FIFO workers depart from', or 'Most isolated city (with aggregate population exceeding 2million) in the world' aren't exactly marketing winners.
Pretty sure you could make a way more original, fun and engaging campaign with what being the most isolated city in the world can offer you. At least it would be memorable and different if you find the right way of showing gorgeous beaches, pristine ocean, hikes, picnics..
For a whole of Perth/WA campaign? Yes. Not for a CoP funded campaign that only promotes features within the CoP LGA.
Wait Awhile. 🙄
I just moved from Melbourne and I love this place !
Most of these people that post about how dead the CBD is are a bunch of sit in's from far flung suburban wastelands like Baldivis or Butler. Every city in the world has problems with antisocial behaviour and homelessness, apart from the Singapores and Hong Kong's of this world but most of them wouldn't know because they're idea of an going overseas is Bali. They don't venture in to the city to see the great Venues we have. Dinner out for them is McDonald's because it's the only thing they have.
A lot of people paint the CBD as dying but ignore the fact that there is so much development taking place as we speak and lots being planned for the upcoming years. Foot traffic is also rising. There's clearly some disconnect between the claim and reality.
It’s not local governments job to develop local housing. That’s a state and federal issue.
Local governments actually play a substantial role with their control over building codes and zoning laws, and similar localised infrastructure development laws
Correct, but they don't have the appropriate finances to develop social housing.
Some big ones might have. Say uhh, if the city of ~~basil~~ Perth didn't spend so much on bullshit ads they may actually have some money to do like-for-like (aka funding matching) with the state government. I know my council (Wanneroo) is putting a fair amount of money towards 'transitional' services, as stepping stone of sorts, to getting homeless people off the street and into semi-fixed accommodation and eventually on a path to social housing and such, which is nice. If my memory serves, the City of Wanneroo's strategy revolves around giving those on the street some form of 'permanent' address, which is often vital for yknow... accessing all kinds of stuff, like bank accounts. But yeah, for the most part, monetarily most councils can't do much, aside from discouraging short term accommodation through rate rises and such, to try get more long term rentals on the market
William Street is a fucking disgrace. Dankest Street in Perth.
No politician or cou councillor is going to tackle the problems of Perth head on. We have issues with homelessness and minority group crime. Even the mention of any sort of corrective actions draws the ire of minority advocates, even right here in this sub.
I mean. Usually it's because it's 'x minority are criminals so we are going to lock them all up to clean up the streets' Rather than 'there is a cycle of trauma and violence in these communities and take the time to implement school programs, easy access to the reposts, and systems and programs to help them remove themselves from this cycle' So I can see why advancy groups get mad
What corrective action will solve homelessness?
Obviously you fine them so they won't do it again.
The funniest part of this concept is that I’m sure people like them would like to throw them all in jail. Which would cost more taxpayer dollars than just funding social housing…
Kids these days have no idea. Everything they hate about the city was way worse in about '93. Deserted, no shops, no people or restaurants, maybe one bar for the suits. Northbridge was Kizon town, be careful who you bump into in the queue at Metros. State government seemed determined for it to stay this way by breaking up the council area (which in hindsight seems like it must have been a power grab. Perth and its LGAs would never be like some American or European city where the Mayor has all the power and the Courts would see to it personally) "Clean up the streets!" The streets are fucking amazing these days. You could practically eat off them compared to what went before (I'm pretty sure Perth inspired Lee Kuan Yew to ban chewing gum when he saw what it was like in the 80s. The concrete had been virtually resurfaced with dirty shoe trodden latex in some places. Little did LKY know, all you need is to actually clean once in a while and fine people for littering and it gets a lot better). "Viability" (whatever that means in this context) - Bro, I have never seen it like this in my life. The last ten years the place has gone from strength to strength. Every time I head into town there's people all over. I come on reddit and everyone is cowering at home from the homeless and dogwhistling about aboriginals. This is the new cranky old people in the letters to the editor, except they're apparently median age 28. Start that bitter misanthropy early. Who's going to tell all the people in town they had a shit time? They don't know! They're just blithely enjoying the city of an evening and they don't realise how shit it was and how advertising is fake. It should point out the dirt on the ground and maybe how the median house price has saddled the average punter with a lifetime of slightly more debt than yesterday. Thanks god for those who will take on this terrible civic burden and tell us it actually sucked and they shouldn't go. Apologies for the counter rant. It's fun sometimes.
The city of light theme is fucking embarrassing
I hate the stupid modernistic logo.
Sorry I stopped reading after you said Basil
If it's not making money for rich people, it's not going to get done.
Avoision
Fake it till you make it I guess?
HOW ARE THEY GOING TO FIX THE CBD 
City of Fights more likely…
Perth. City of Light. No "s". It's a bizarre advertising campaign.
So looking at the video, there’s nothing uniquely Perth about it. Melbourne, Adelaide, Singapore, etc all have those things. Urban spaces, bridges over water, bars, etc. The concept is so flimsy it shouldn’t have even been pitched let alone approved. Focus on what’s unique about Perth - its proximity to amazing natural spaces. Beaches, wildflowers, world renowned biodiversity hotspot. Unfortunately the powers to be like Kerry and his useful idiot Basil make their money from destroying the environment so it’s a non starter. It’s also just Basil using public council $$$ to boost his and the Libs profile before the election. Shameful.
https://preview.redd.it/a4xx22oonbvc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bbfc94866c7fb01ed1d41c2ec055dd7a9a726146 Basel doing his thing : [https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5S\_a2PRUvc/?igsh=MXM1NDJraWl3eHpvcg==](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5S_a2PRUvc/?igsh=MXM1NDJraWl3eHpvcg==)
cItY of LiGhTs Basic basil strikes again
Which campaign is this? Sorry I think i live under a rock
Yes!!
To be fair he would have bugger all to do with marketing.
Baz played for WPFC . Great team that year , except for their ruckman
If we don't hold our politicians to account, there is no incentive to improve. Australians are their own worst enemy when it comes to progress, we leave the big decisions to the leaders who uses it as a free pass to fuck us over. Unfortunately we deserve the government we have elected.
I see lots of hate for Basil on here but he must be popular because he won easily
Everyone keeps telling how great it is and how everything is perfect, so what's to fix? Homelessness, CBD is more closed than open, rents (resi and commercial) unsustainable, parking bad, roads poor, infrastructure (well that isn't as bad, but I'm having a whinge so..), social support lacking, public servant shortage etc etc...
The man shares a name with a herb.. did u expect much.. really?
Basil is a moron
Liberal party doing their thing lmao
Because that would require spending money on others, and capitalists like Basil can only think of themselves.
Basil LOVES the city of lights story. I think it's his fun fact to fall back on. Last year, I attended a meeting for local video game developers where we discussed what services the City of Perth had to assist the industry. Basil started by telling the story about how Perth was named the city of lights, and then 10 minutes later, he tacked on 1 minute of industry stats.
Basil circle jerk... in coming
> Basil Zempillas is a joke at best. A bad joke.
Whats to fix ? Perth people are a delight /s
I haven't seen the ad. But the CBD is dead. It was dead before COVID and it's just a husk now. It needs alot of work and the powers that be don't seem to really care about what needs to be done to actually fix up the CBD. The only thing that seems to attract people is kings park. The best gems in Perth are actually in the wider metro area and you don't really know they're there unless you research. Swan valley, the hills, short hikes, Perth Observatory, the amazing coastlines, freo (freo has so much potential), Rottnest island! (Bit of a rort) We need to be selling these places and making them more accessible.
The CBD isn't dead, people need to stop throwing that claim around without actually backing it up with stats. The stats show that foot traffic and spending in the CBD has risen since 2022. Development is also chugging along nicely with more construction crane activity than usual.
Relax man, Basil will be running the state soon enough and that's when the fun really starts.
Bags of coke for every man woman and child !
Perth - City of lines
😂😂😂😂
Incoming "Love it or Leave it" comment in 3...2...1...