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As it happened: WA news on Friday, February 6

Updated ,first published

Key Posts

WA hospitals some of the worst in nation for wait times: Report
WA’s top cop slams senator over terrorism report claim
Western suburbs parking spot spat continues in court

Today’s headlines

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That’s all for today, thank you for joining us.

Here’s a reminder of today’s top headlines:

  • A bushfire warning has been raised for residents living in parts of Boya, Darlington and Helena Valley in the shire of Mundaring.
  • Western Australia’s promised productivity commission will be branded the ‘2050 Commission’ and its first task will be looking at how to fold more AI into the public sector, WA Premier Roger Cook has revealed.
  • A 44-year-old man has been arrested and charged over allegedly attacking a man in Northbridge and knocking him unconscious before robbing him.
  • Shadow health minister Libby Mettam has slammed the Cook government for its management of the health system after a Productivity Commission report found the state’s hospitals were some of the worst in the nation for wait times.
  • Western Australian farmers have helped CBH Group smash its harvest record by more than a million tonnes, with the company saying new benchmarks were also set for scale and speed.
  • Esperance will be the home of a new art trail in the same vein as the wildly successful Giants of Mandurah trail.
  • A marine ecology researcher diving off Albany has had the thrill of a lifetime after spotting a tiny fish so rare it has been officially recorded only once since its discovery in 1996.

We’ll see you back here on Monday with more breaking news.

’Not safe to return: Bushfire breaks out in Perth’s eastern suburbs

By

A bushfire warning has been raised for residents living in parts of Boya, Darlington and Helena Valley in the shire of Mundaring.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services has warned people in the area that were forced to leave that it is not safe to return.

A bushfire has broken out in the shire of Mundaring.DFES

The warning is in place for people bound by Coulston Road, Darlington Road, Beenong Road, Glen Road, Victor Road and Clayton Road in the shire of Mundaring.

The bushfire is understood to be out of control and moving in a north to north-easterly direction.

WA’s public sector wants to use more AI. Here’s why

By Hamish Hastie

Western Australia’s promised productivity commission will be branded the ‘2050 Commission’ and its first task will be looking at how to fold more AI into the public sector, WA Premier Roger Cook has revealed.

Speaking at a Property Council WA lunch on Friday, Cook said legislation would be introduced later this year to establish the 2050 Commission.

The government first announced it would create a productivity commission through the merger of Infrastructure WA and Economic Regulation Authority in August last year.

The new commission will undertake research and provide policy advice to the WA government to improve productivity in the state.

Cook said it would continue to assess major infrastructure projects, like Infrastructure WA does, but would broaden its work and create industry development action plans to identify areas of economic opportunities and job creation in the state.

It will also conduct its own inquiries into areas of interest, if approved by the premier, with the first inquiries to be into clean energy supply chains and the use of AI to improve efficiency in the public service.

“On artificial intelligence, we know that we are in early days of a tech rule technological revolution that will change, literally, everything that we do,” Cook said

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Man charged over violent Northbridge assault

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Turning back to crime news, a 44-year-old man has been arrested and charged over allegedly attacking a man in Northbridge and knocking him unconscious before robbing him.

On Thursday around 11.15pm, the man allegedly confronted the victim near Nick’s Lane, assaulted him and then stole his property, before fleeing on foot.

Bystanders provided assistance to the victim until St John WA paramedics arrived and he was conveyed to Royal Perth Hospital for medical treatment of serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.

Detectives are working to confirm the identity of the victim, who is believed to be aged in his fifties.

Police located the alleged offender a short time later on William Street in the Perth CBD, where he was arrested and taken into custody.

The Spearwood man has been charged with an unlawful act or omission with intent to harm (endangering life, health or safety of any person), stealing, giving false personal details to police and possessing a prohibited drug.

His bail was refused and he is due to appear in court today.

WA hospitals some of the worst in nation for wait times: Report

By Hamish Hastie

To hospitals now and shadow health minister Libby Mettam has slammed the Cook government for its management of the health system after a Productivity Commission report found the state’s hospitals were some of the worst in the nation for wait times.

Shadow Health Minister Libby Mettam. Hamish Hastie

The report on government services found only 29 per cent of patients as category three presentations were seen within 30 minutes, the worst in the country.

Only 47 per cent of category four patients were seen within the clinically recommended time of an hour which was again the worst in the country and below the 70 per cent national average.

Attrition rates also jumped with more than a quarter of doctors leaving the workforce in 2024.

CBH Group smashes harvest record thanks to WA farmers

By Michael Philipps

Western Australian farmers have helped CBH Group smash its harvest record by more than a million tonnes, with the company saying new benchmarks were also set for scale and speed.

The bulk handling company also reported a new all-time record with 680,129 tonnes delivered in a single day.

CBH finished harvest season with 24.2 million tonnes received, breaking the previous record by 1.3 million tonnes.

Four of five zones – Albany, Esperance, Kwinana South and Geraldton – set new seasonal totals with 44 sites across the network achieving their biggest season ever and 45 sites breaking daily records.

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New sculpture trail to rival Mandurah’s giants announced

By Hamish Hastie

With all the news yesterday you may have missed this nugget.

Esperance will be the home of a new art trail in the same vein as the wildly successful Giants of Mandurah trail.

A Mandurah landmark: Thomas Dambo’s outdoor sculpture series The Giants.

The $6 million art trail will be created by FORM, the same group that did the Mandurah trail and will showcase the region’s land, sea and Aboriginal heritage.

The WA government hope the new trail, set to open next year, will generate the same interest as the Giants which were built by Danish artist Thomas Dambo.

The giants resulted in $64 million in visitor spend in their first year and 86,000 visitors from outside the Peel region booked nearly 250,000 nights of accommodation locally.

“Esperance boasts some of the most picturesque landscapes in the world, which will be showcased for local, national and international tourists to enjoy through the Sculpture Trail,” Cook said.

WA’s top cop slams senator over terrorism report claim

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WA’s top cop has slammed comments made in federal parliament regarding the alleged terror attack at an Invasion Day rally in Perth’s CBD, and claims there was a report by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation detailing the “probable likelihood of an attack”.

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe made the claim she had seen a three-page report, and that statements there was no intelligence before the alleged incident, made by Police Commissioner Col Blanch, was a lie.

“Could she release that document, could we all see it?” Blanch said when asked about Thorpe’s comments at a press conference at WA’s police headquarters on Friday morning.

“I’ve seen intelligence products about the probable terrorist threat to Australia which I’ve already referenced … but if there is anyone, including senators, who have information that suggests there is a targeted attack at a particular place and time, produce the document immediately.

Rare south-west species recorded for first time in 17 years

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Some positive news for your Friday!

A marine ecology researcher diving off Albany has had the thrill of a lifetime after spotting a tiny fish so rare it has been officially recorded only once since its discovery in 1996.

The vividly coloured fish, known as Braun’s wrasse, is found nowhere else in the world.Dr Albert Pessarrodona

The vividly coloured fish, known as Braun’s wrasse, is found nowhere else in the world and has one of the smallest geographic ranges of any temperate fish in Australia.

It has been spotted in only a handful of locations along WA’s south-west coast since first being described near Albany in 1996, and was last recorded during a scientific survey in 2009.

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Western suburbs parking spot spat continues in court

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A Claremont architect accused of threatening her neighbour with a knife has told the court that the pair went back and forth for months over a spat involving a parked car blocking the driveway.

Louise St John Kennedy was arrested after allegedly brandishing a knife during a row with rheumatologist Dr Prudence Manners in May last year.

She claimed she had been trying to take her dog to the vet, but Manners’ car was again blocking the way.

In court on Thursday, she admitted she lost had control and yelled “stop you dumb b----,” but that she had been “so patient and polite over so many parking problems.”

She insisted she was holding an architect’s ruler, not a knife.

Kennedy told 9 News Perth she was “very happy with how things were going” following her appearance. The trial continues.

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