This was published 1 year ago
We’re bringing our blog to a close for the day, thank you for joining us.
But we’ll leave you with an updated list of election commitments on our promise tracker.
Today the Liberals continued their law-and-order campaign by committing to criminalise coercive control as one of their first acts if elected to government.
They also announced $20 million to improve capacity of women’s shelters for families fleeing domestic violence situations.
To some ocean news now – some deep ocean news, actually – and divers have discovered the wreck of a WWII-era Dutch submarine in the waters off Perth’s coast.
The wreck is of the HMLNS K XI-class patrol submarine, which once lurked in the waters around the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
It played a crucial role in rescuing 13 survivors from an Australian ship sunk by Japanese warships in 1942, but by 1946 was sent to a watery grave off Rottnest Island.
However, diving enthusiasts hadn’t been able to track down the wreck. Until now.
Back to the election campaign, and we have some footage of Libby Mettam’s press conference in Byford earlier today which turned very awkward after Liberal candidate for Darling Range Paul Mansfield was shown a series of old Facebook posts he had made.
The posts, made around 2014, included a joke about gay sex and one where he shared an article about a Brazilian winner of the Miss Bum Bum contest captioned: “discipline, devotion and sacrafice [sic].”
Mansfield deleted his Facebook shortly after the press conference.
See the vision below.
And in other news, retail giant Vicinity Centres has revealed it plans to begin the long-awaited $350 million revamp of Morley Galleria in the coming months just days after being lambasted over delays.
In a presentation to the market, the company confirmed it intended to commence initial construction in the third quarter of FY25 and move to full site mobilisation by year’s end.
The redevelopment — first floated in 2013 — was thrust into the headlines last week, when City of Bayswater mayor Filomena Piffaretti attempted to use an amendment the company had sought to its 2016 approval to strongarm it into beginning works.
The long-awaited project spearheaded by Vicinity and Perron Investments has evolved significantly over the past decade, including being scaled back and officially deferred in 2019 before being amended again in 2021.
Returning to an exclusive story our political reporter Hamish Hastie brought you this morning on Liberal candidate for the Kimberley Darren Spackman describing a break-in at his pub as a “welcome to country” in a social media post in 2022.
Liberal leader Libby Mettam was asked about her candidate during a press conference this morning and said she had not spoken to Spackman but continued to back him.
“That was a poor choice of words, but he was expressing the frustration that he has seen during Roger Cook’s crime crisis, which has really hit the Kimberley, like many other regions across the state,” she said.
“He is a strong advocate for his community and for ensuring that we have better supports in place in terms of addressing crime as a key issue, ensuring we fix our hospital system and as well as cost of living pressures right across the state.”
Turning to some breaking business news now, and the billionaires behind the Wright Prospecting empire have entered into a $US5.3 billion deal to sell the bulk of their stake in Rio Tinto’s Rhodes Ridge iron ore project to Japanese trading giant Mitsui.
In a statement released to the market today, Rio Tinto revealed Mitsui & Co had entered into agreements to acquire 40 per cent of the interests held by the descendants of Lang Hancock’s former business partner Peter Wright.
They retain their stake via Wright Prospecting shareholders VOC Group and AMB Holdings – entities controlled by Wright’s daughter Angela Bennett and granddaughters Alexandra Burt and Leonie Baldock.
Under the deal, Mitsui & Co has agreed to acquire all of VOC Group Limited’s 25 per cent interest in the joint venture, with a further 15 per cent from AMB Holdings.
The Commonwealth has blamed the WA government’s late submission of paperwork for delays in the federal environment assessment of the $30 billion North West Shelf extension project.
The Cook government approved the Woodside proposal to extend the life of its North West Shelf facilities for another 50 years in December after a six-year process.
The process was then transferred to the Commonwealth and environment minister Tanya Plibersek’s office said it had been requesting documents from the WA government which were only received earlier this month.
“The department now requires reasonable time to assess the project in accordance with Australia’s national environment laws,” a spokeswoman for Plibersek said.
An additional seven construction-related TAFE courses will be made free by the Labor government if re-elected, under a $58 million promise to boost Perth’s housing stock.
WA Premier Roger Cook announced the pledge this morning, with the new free courses to include Certificate III in civil construction, plumbing, brick laying and plastering. They will join 130 TAFE courses already free under a state government program.
Master Builders chief executive Matthew Pollock said he strongly supported the measure to rebuild the state’s construction workforce.
“We need to attract and train an additional 50,000 construction workers by the end of calendar year 2027 to meet the demand for new housing, schools, roads and hospitals,” he said.
Cook also announced an expansion to an existing wage subsidy program for apprentices, promising to fund an extra 225 jobs if re-elected.
In business news, beleaguered Mineral Resources boss Chris Ellison has vowed to retain his shareholding after he vacates the top job as part of a governance overhaul sparked by an offshore tax scandal.
During an analyst call held this morning, the mining boss was probed about whether he had discussed remaining with the miner in any capacity after his planned departure later this year.
“I’d like to think somewhere down the track I can get a bit of time to go and do some different things,” he said.
“Look, I’ll always be obviously supportive of MinRes and my intention is to retain my shareholding once we do the transition.
To breaking news now and Perth obstetrician Rhys Bellinge will soon be behind bars after being refused bail this morning in Perth Magistrate’s Court.
The doctor is accused of losing control of his Jaguar on Saturday night, causing him to clip the curb and crash into an Uber car on the opposite side of the road, killing passenger Elizabeth Pearce, 24, and critically injuring the driver.
The 45-year-old was allegedly drunk and speeding 130km/h in a 50 zone when the crash occurred on Birdwood Parade in Dalkeith.
Dashcam footage from his vehicle allegedly reveals he was angrily ranting about his wife in the moments before the crash, and in the weeks leading up to it, following their separation a month earlier.