Central Perth surrounded by a perfect space (8)
I believe the answer is:
aperture
'space' is the definition.
(I know that aperture is a type of hole)
'central perth surrounded by a perfect' is the wordplay.
'central' indicates the central letters.
'surrounded by' is an insertion indicator.
'perfect' becomes 'pure' (synonyms).
The middle of 'perth' is 'ert'.
'a'+'pure'='apure'
'ert' inserted within 'apure' is 'APERTURE'.
(Other definitions for aperture that I've seen before include "Crack" , "Opening, mostly small" , "Opening, gap" , "Device controlling amount of light admitted" , "Opening (for a photographer?)" .)