As it happened: WA news on Thursday, July 31

McQualter has endured a tough debut year in the hot seat, and is desperate to fast-track the team’s rebuild.

“We’re just looking at it from the performances of the last four years and the history of what priority picks get given for,” McQualter said.

“We think we qualify, so we’ve applied for it.

“We’re in a rush to get better, and if it’s a way that we can get better, we’re willing to apply for it.”

Even if they get knocked back, West Coast are still likely to have the first two picks in the national draft.

McQualter also revealed on Thursday that part of his plan is to tap into the knowledge of AFLW trailblazer Pearce, who is West Coast’s women’s coach.

Pearce led the Eagles to a 4-7 record in her first year as coach – the best return for the club in its six-season AFLW history.

The 37-year-old previously served as a development coach with Geelong before landing the top role with the Eagles.

“Daisy has finished her first year, added a second pre-season, and I will really look to use Daisy as a resource as to what she learned over that period,” McQualter said.

“Just with where we’re at as a team and a club – we have to get better really quickly.”

AAP

Her family in Germany had raised the alarm after not hearing from the backpacker for some time.

Wilga later said she had wandered away from her car after hitting her head when it rolled down an embankment, crashed and got bogged.

She spent several days in Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth before flying home to Germany.

Officers on the ground gave chase and tried to stop the car in Ocean Reef about 8.30am, during which the car allegedly sped through streets and red traffic lights.

The short pursuit came to an end in Burns Beach, with CCTV capturing three boys scattering from the car as police screeched to a halt behind them.

Police arrested the 16-year-old and 14-year-old shortly after, but a third boy is still on the run.

Police allege the boys were also involved in a series of robberies in the days before Wednesday’s chase.

They are accused of robbing a convenience store in Northbridge just after 9pm on Monday, stealing a “large box” of vapes and fleeing on a stolen moped. The 16-year-old is accused of assaulting a staff member during that robbery.

On Tuesday morning, the boys are accused of stealing several items from a service station on Great Eastern Highway in Woodbridge, and allegedly threatened and assaulted a taxi driver before stealing the taxi to flee the area.

Both were due to appear in Perth Children’s Court on Thursday.

Opponents of the project in the Friends of Trigg Beach group are wary of the environmental impact of the plans, and believe it has a snowball’s chance in a Perth summer of being approved by the state government’s environmental authorities, given the predicted erosion along the coast.

The boardwalk would also wind through a Class A reserve, which opponents stress is fragile and should be preserved for future generations.

Another group – Bush NOT Boardwalk – wants more attention on the existing dual path that meanders up the northern coast, including pedestrian safety measures like guard rails along West Coast Highway.

On the other side of the coin, the residents behind the Trigg-Scarborough Coastal Boardwalk Facebook group believe alternative measures proposed by the boardwalk’s opponents, such as a separate walkers’ path along one stretch of the walkway, are “flawed and contradictory”.

The City of Stirling’s plans can be found here.

What do you think about the idea? Let us know in the comments below, or send an email to watoday@nine.com.au.

“In conclusion, there has been no discussion about the proposed budget at public meetings,” the submission concluded.

“With insufficient information available to inform ratepayers in relation to the City’s advertisement about setting differential rates to deliver all that is expected of the City, we do not believe that the proposed rates will be adequate to meet the community’s expectations. The bar needs to be set higher than that proposed.”

The commissioners voted to note the submission, and for the reasons behind the differential rates be presented to an audit, risk and improvement committee along with the draft 2025/26 budget.

The half-hour meeting also saw Caddy, Sandri and Hart, along with two independent members, to several committees and groups involved in the city’s governance.

The commissioners will meet twice a month – on the first and third Wednesdays – under the Nedlands ordinary council meeting schedule.