A petition calling on West Australian Premier Mark McGowan to sack Basil Zempilas has so far gathered 8100 signatures, which is more than four times the number of votes Zempilas himself got to be elected Lord Mayor.
The West Australian reports that the petition, which was started by the Perth Scorpions Volleyball Club, hit 8100 signatures in its first 48 hours. By contrast, the TV and radio personality won the election last October with 1855 votes, out of only 6300 that were cast.
Basil Zempilas drew harsh criticism this week when he sounded off on transgender issues on his 6PR radio show, saying: “If you’ve got a penis, mate, you are a bloke. If you’ve got a vagina you are a woman. Game over.”
He later apologised for his “inappropriate” comments, but many in the community remined outraged. A protest against Basil Zempilas is planned for later today, while the petition has called for him to be sacked for his “hateful, bigoted, and appalling” commentary.
It reads, in part:
“This is not how a Lord Mayor should be acting, this is not how any person in power or not in power even, should be portraying any other human being regardless of sex, gender, sexuality, race. This is 2020, not the 1950s. The Premier should be getting involved with this and some action needs to be taken, his pathetic excuse of an apology is not good enough.”
