The WA Opposition says a man central to the redefining of Perth’s council boundaries had some serious conflicts of interest.

There are now calls for the chairman of WA’s Local Government Advisory Board to be sacked, after reports that he tried to parlay the position into a new job as a local government commissioner.

Reports from the ABC last year revealed that chairman Mel Congerton has been a long-term member of the Liberal Party, causing the state’s Labor Opposition to question the independence of the board.

Local Government Minister Tony Simpson has now confirmed that Mr Congerton contacted his office last year to voice his interest in being appointed as a local government commissioner.

Opposition spokesman David Templeman says it is a bad look.

“This latest example clearly shows that when the Local Government Advisory Board was actually receiving the proposals for boundary changes, and indeed for amalgamation proposals, Mr Congerton was also emailing the Minister's office saying; ‘if there's a commissioner's job coming up please consider me’,” he told the ABC.

“That's totally inappropriate and he should not now be chairing the important independent body.”

The calls come just weeks after the State Government put out details of plans to slash the number of Perth councils from 30 to 16.

Many of the recommendations on the new council boundaries came form the advisory board.

Mr Congerton says it may have been an inappropriate request, but dismissed it as “part of banter with the [Local Government Minister's] chief-of-staff”.

The Local Government Minister said it was “very inappropriate”.

“I've made it quite clear to Mel that in no way would he ever be becoming a commissioner while I'm the minister,” he said.