"The showman's here!" Plenty were happy to see broadcaster-turned-Lord Mayor-turned-Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas take his seat in Parliament this week — apparently including Labor's question time warrior and deputy premier Rita Saffioti. Finally, a new sparring partner to get stuck into on the floor of parliament, whom she quickly dubbed "the showman without the facts". A new dynamic Labor's total control over the last four years, and an opposition which could comfortably fit in a four-wheel-drive, made parliament even more of a dull, straightforward affair than usual. Then-leaders Shane Love and Libby Mettam were always highly regarded for their work ethic, but never quite felt at home in the chamber where politicians turn aspiring thespians. Zempilas, a man who's built his career on his communication skills, has turned that dynamic on its head. "Will the government shift its focus away from fantasy projects, like rugby teams and race tracks, to things that matter to Western Australians?" he boomed as he took his first chance to grill the government. There was just as much energy as he took Saffioti to task for asking Parliament for another $1.9 billion beyond what was allocated in the budget, a move she said was necessary to fund promises from the mid-year review and another round of student assistance payments. "A government flush with cash yet constantly coming back to parliament and asking, like Oliver Twist, for more," Zempilas declared. History re-told But he walked into one of Saffioti's favourite traps when he harked back to the Barnett government's budget management. "That is what responsible budgeting looks like, to spend within one's means and use the advance for genuine contingencies," he said. Under Barnett, the state's net debt rose by tens of billions of dollars. "The Leader of the Opposition was all show and no substance," Saffioti fired back, unleashing what seemed like years of anticipation for this exact moment. "He stood up and told the biggest mistruth, lie, that this Parliament has heard — the Barnett government lived within its means. "There was deficit after deficit after deficit. It did not." Sandra Brewer joins in But it wasn't just the new sparring duo having all the fun. Former Property Council boss-turned-Cottesloe MP Sandra Brewer also put on a fierce show. "This provides a sense of the scale of the government's excess," she said of the $1.9 billion request. "This government, despite booming iron ore revenues, property and payroll taxes, has failed to care for the most needy in our society, and it has contributed to the cost-of-living crisis through elevated excessive public spending. "At a time when the government could have taken less from Western Australian taxpayers, it has taken more and more." Saffioti was just as happy to remind Brewer of what she'd thought of the government's economic management not too long ago. "The member for Cottesloe stood up and critiqued the financial management of this state when, year after year, she begged to come to our press conferences," Saffioti fired back. "She was always standing next to me. It was getting awkward. Every housing policy, she was there. Every stamp duty policy, she was there." The treasurer — who loves arriving at question time with a stack of props under her arm — then produced a flipbook of Brewer's tweets from her former job heaping praise on the government. "TBH I wish I could apply this fiscal prudence to my own family finances," one of them read, after Labor delivered the state's first surplus in five years. Playing games Brewer was quick to draw a line between a tweet from 2019 and the current day, suggesting the government's "strong fiscal management" had slowly slipped away, before sliding in a jab on the government's "disappointing" behaviour. "I think people are beginning to notice that when the treasurer is held to scrutiny that she prefers to play political games," she said. "Well, sometimes the heat in the kitchen gets a little bit elevated, and you know what they say in relation to heat in the kitchen," Cook fired back hours later. Tit-for-tat-for-tit-for-tat. It's going to be a long four years. A challenge and a warning While the first week of parliament has seen a marked change in the Liberals' strategy and energy, the bigger challenge will be turning the sparring into something which convinces voters to back them in four years' time. And there's much more than a nice soundbite at stake, as the Chief Justice told parliament after swearing in lower house MPs. "We live at a time when in other western democracies, with whom we share a common heritage, public institutions such as ours are under significant threat and where public confidence in those institutions is deliberately sought to be undermined," Justice Quinlan told parliament. "Often, those threats come from the very people who have been entrusted with responsibility to uphold those institutions. "It is a stark reminder of the sometime fragility of our institutions of government … and how it is the responsibility of each branch of government to uphold the legitimate roles and responsibility of the others." After four years without a fully-functional opposition, this week has seen the return of an important institution. It's about the only certainty to point to as the state prepares to weather the rough economic seas ahead.