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As it happened: WA news on Wednesday, October 15

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Pinned post from 2.55pm on Oct 15, 2025
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WA records lowest birth rate across country

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WA has recorded the lowest birth rate of any state in Australia.

The Australia Bureau of Statistics today released its birth data for 2024, with WA recording 30,516 births, down 4.7 per cent compared to 2023.

Across the country, births increased by 1.9 per cent, with WA one of the few outliers to have recorded a significant decline, along with New South Wales (-3.4%).

The average age for a first-time mother in WA was 31.9, while for first-time fathers it was 33.9.

Over the past decade, the birth rate has continued to decline, with the average couple having 1.9 children in 2014, compared to 1.4 children in 2024.

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Homicide squad investigating Armadale death

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A man has died in Armadale this afternoon following a disturbance involving two people outside a property on Fifth Road.

WA Police said the incident occurred at 2.20pm, with homicide officers supporting local detectives at the scene.

“Emergency services, including St John WA, attended the scene and located one male with life-threatening injuries, who sadly died at the scene,” a spokesman said.

“The other man was apprehended at the scene and taken into police custody.

“He is assisting officers with inquiries.”

WA sovereign citizens gun ban leads to 11 men being charged

By Hannah Murphy

Police have revealed they charged people from the Wheatbelt and the South West following a targeted operation aimed at cracking down on gun ownership among those who identify with the sovereign citizen movement.

Operation Ascendant ran over five days earlier this month, with officers conducting raids on a number of addresses throughout Perth and regional WA on those who had expressed views inline with the movement.

WA Police seize weapons from sovereign citizens under a week-long operation in early October. WA Police

Sovereign citizens believe they are not subject to the law or government authority.

Police revealed today just how widespread the movement had become in WA, breaking down a list of charges they have since laid following the raids.

Cook denies labelling Stoneville residents NIMBYs

By Hamish Hastie

Premier Roger Cook has denied that a comment he made about residents in bush suburbs in a tirade against NIMBYism at a Property Council event this morning was a veiled reference to the North Stoneville controversy.

In delivering his welcoming address to property luminaries, including North Stoneville developer Nigel Satterley, Cook lamented NIMBY opposition to development in the state.

“To achieve more housing, it requires challenging the status quo, and for so long, planning systems have favoured the status quo, prioritising existing residents,” he said.

“Challenging that status quo has naturally created debate, and if you don’t mind, I’ll put out a few of the more bizarre contributions to that debate that we have to endure.”

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WA Police hunt for men who robbed house using fake police search warrant

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Two men impersonating police officers have allegedly robbed a Carlisle home after knocking on the door and presenting the owners with a fake search warrant.

WA Police Detective First Class Constable Andre Ferreira said the offenders stole a “large quantity” of cash and jewellery worth “in the tens of thousands”, after entering the Planet Street home on August 29 at 12.20am and spending 40 to 50 minutes inside.

“It’s very traumatic for the occupants of the home,” he said.

“We take this very seriously and are trying to locate the offenders.”

Pinned post from 2.55pm on Oct 15, 2025

WA records lowest birth rate across country

By

WA has recorded the lowest birth rate of any state in Australia.

The Australia Bureau of Statistics today released its birth data for 2024, with WA recording 30,516 births, down 4.7 per cent compared to 2023.

Across the country, births increased by 1.9 per cent, with WA one of the few outliers to have recorded a significant decline, along with New South Wales (-3.4%).

The average age for a first-time mother in WA was 31.9, while for first-time fathers it was 33.9.

Over the past decade, the birth rate has continued to decline, with the average couple having 1.9 children in 2014, compared to 1.4 children in 2024.

Heavy police presence in Perth court as murder trial of accused bikie killer gets underway

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To the courts now, and a heavy security surrounds the much anticipated trial of Perth bikie David Pye, which gets underway this morning in the Supreme Court of WA.

Pye is accused of paying a hit man to assassinate rival Nick Martin at Kwinana Motorplex in 2020.

Police outside court on day one of David Pye’s murder trial. 9 News Perth

The 40-year-old is now sat in the dock as legal matters begin, flanked by two security guards.

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McGowan recalls ‘Locking out Eddie’ during COVID as favourite political moment

By Hamish Hastie

Back at the Property Council Congress and former WA Premier Mark McGowan and former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop are being asked to look back at their political careers.

Asked by MC Property Council boss Mike Zorbas about their favourite political moments, McGowan said it was locking Eddie McGuire out of WA during COVID-19 when the state hosted the AFL Grand Final.

He joked if he had his time again, he would’ve made the McGuire ban permanent.

Of locking out McGuire, TV personality David Koch and former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, he quipped he: “Got the trifecta”.

Bishop said her favourite political moment was when she became President of the UN Security Council in September 2013.

“The Rudd Government got us there and lost the election. So I as foreign minister could go over to the UN and take the presidency and I want to tell you, I’ve never been more proud to be Australian,” she said.

China stand-off a ‘normal part of business’, BHP boss says

By Holly Thompson

BHP’s Australia president Geraldine Slattery says a protracted dispute between the miner and China is a “normal part of business”.

However, Slattery backed the big Australian’s “strong relationships” with customers in China during a question and answer session at a business breakfast in Perth on Wednesday morning.

WAtoday was at the Leadership Matters breakfast, where iron ore’s future and the mining sector’s relationship with China were hot topics.

“There’s a wide future for Australian iron ore, but it would be remiss if I didn’t add that this optimism must be mixed with a sense of reality for what will underpin it,” Slattery said.

WA political heavyweights give their verdict on Trump

By Hamish Hastie

We’re at the Property Council’s national congress being held at Crown in Perth today, where two former political heavyweights from different sides of the aisle have taken the stage – former Coalition foreign minister Julie Bishop and former WA premier Mark McGowan.

Bishop was asked about whether the Trump administration had changed global commerce, to which she responded that the president had abandoned the values and morals-based foreign policy that had dominated US administrations since the first and second world wars in favour of an interest-based policy.

Former WA Premier Mark McGowan.Dion Georgopoulos

“American diplomats tell me that when they apply for foreign aid or international development assistance for a country, they must prove to the State Department that this funding will be in America’s interest and that will make America stronger, safer and more prosperous,” she said.

“So what you see nations around the world doing is seeking to identify America’s core interests, and then they are able to predict what actions President Trump will take.”

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Retail giant Costco reveals site of third Perth warehouse

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Perth is set to get its third Costco store with the state government today announcing the US retail giant will be the new anchor tenant at Alkimos Central’s Home X Trade Hub.

The Hub will today launch expressions of interest for other commercial operators to set up shop in the $33 million, 24 hectare precinct.

The new Alkimos retail precinct.

Costco opened its first WA warehouse at Perth Airport in 2020 followed by another at Casuarina in Perth’s south in 2022.

Planning and Lands Minister John Carey said the area has the potential to double its population to more than 45,000 people over the next decade.

“This is a prime opportunity for investors and businesses to secure land in one of Perth’s most dynamic and rapidly growing regions,” he said.

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