Follow our live coverage here.
Follow our live coverage here.
The beach where surfer Steven Payne was killed by a shark on Monday is about to reopen, more than 48 hours on from the tragedy.
The 37-year-old was mauled by a shark in chest-deep water, just 50 metres from shore at Wharton Beach near Esperance.
The beach was closed while authorities tried in vain to locate Payne’s remains. The search was called off earlier today.
While no active search was launched to find the shark, there have been no further reportings in the area since the attack.
The Shire of Esperance rangers are at the site now, preparing to reopen the beach.
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir is backing his players to thrive in the intense Geelong heat, but gun recruit Shai Bolton could be among a flurry of stars to miss the match.
A forecast top of 36 degrees is set to greet players for Saturday’s opening clash between the Dockers and Cats at GMHBA Stadium.
The 1.20pm AEDT bounce-down means most of the game will be played when conditions are at their hottest, with the AFL expected to invoke the heat policy to allow extra water carriers and longer breaks between quarters.
Nat Fyfe, who underwent knee surgery in the off-season, has already been ruled out of the match, with Longmuir keen to build up the veteran’s loads first.
Ruckman Sean Darcy (ankle/knee, two to four weeks) and midfielder Hayden Young (hamstring, three weeks) are other stars out of action.
Fremantle revealed on Tuesday evening that Bolton is battling a stress response in his lower leg and is no certainty to take on the Cats.
“It sounds worse than what it actually is,” Longmuir said.
“If he doesn’t get up this week, we’d be confident he’ll be right next week.
“He needs to train (on Wednesday to prove his fitness). I think he’s feeling pretty good. He’ll get out there and see how it is.
“We won’t take any risks with him, but it’s on the minor end of the injury.”
One of the men accused of murdering Indigenous Perth schoolboy Cassius Turvey has defended allegations he bashed him with a pole, as the jury was shown footage of his arrest.
The trial is now hearing from police officers involved in the investigation into Cassius’ alleged murder, which means revealing interviews with each of the accused will be aired in court.
In the footage shown to the jury this morning, a shirtless Jack Brearley is handcuffed by Midland detectives in the early hours of October 14 – the day after Cassius, a 15-year-old Swan View Senior High School student, was hospitalised with a severe head injury.
He died 10 days later.
Prosecutors allege Brearley was the person responsible for delivering the fatal blows to the teen’s head after chasing him across a creek in the eastern suburb of Middle Swan.
“I’ve been stabbed three times,” he can be heard telling police as they read him his rights.
“There’s my leg there, stab wounds.
“I admit I stamped on his head, but there was no pole involved. He stabbed me first.”
Brearley then asked officers if he could “go down and put charges on him (Cassius)” in relation to being stabbed.
He is later heard telling the detectives that “they were all coming off the bus coming for me” before claiming he told the group “you’re messing with adults here, you’re still at school”.
Brearley can then be heard saying “I’m the one injured” before claiming that his then girlfriend and co-accused Aleesha Gilmore had also been injured during the incident.
It’s the state’s case that Gilmore had injured her own wrist in a separate incident unrelated to Cassius’s death.
To the courts now and a former FIFO worker who was “going through a rough time” and wanted to lighten the mood by releasing fart spray inside a Northam Bunnings has had his bid for bail denied.
Paul Andrew Hart, 51, has pleaded guilty to one count of causing a poison to be administered after he dispersed a chilli and alcohol spray known as ‘Satans Spit’ into a crowd of people on Anzac Day last year.
He claimed he accidentally reached for the chilli spray instead of the fart spray, which injured 15 people, 11 of whom had to be hospitalised.
Perth’s industrial and retail sectors saw the biggest increases in their median sales prices in 2024, according to REIWA’s latest WA Commercial Property Update.
Chief executive Cath Hart said both sectors both recorded a 15 per cent increase in their median sale price per sqm with prices predicted to continue to rise in 2025.
The office sector saw moderate growth over the year, recording a 7.6 per cent increase in its median sale price per sqm.
Hart said the strong growth in Perth’s industrial market was driven by ongoing supply challenges and strong demand.
“The greatest challenge has been new supply, with limited land for new development and construction costs hampering investment in building,” she said.
“Construction costs are stabilising, and members report east coast developers are buying land, so that may see new projects come to market and ease demand slightly.”
A total of 1,016 industrial sales in the Greater Perth region have been recorded so far during the 12 months to December 2024. Compared to the previous year, sales were down 11 per cent.
Hart said the decline was a reflection of limited supply rather than a decline in demand.
Across Perth, 35.8 per cent of industrial sales were priced between $1 million and $5 million.
The retail market recorded the strongest growth in sales activity, with the number of transactions increasing 27.5 per cent in the year to December.
There were 195 sales so far over the 12 months.
It’s slow progress over at the WA Electoral Commission, with nine seats from Saturday’s state election still to be called as counting continues into its fifth day.
The tightest race is shaping up to be the seat of Fremantle, where sitting Labor MP Simone McGurk has edged ahead of Independent Kate Hulett overnight, and is now leading by just 31 votes.
With 68.5 per cent of the vote counted, the surge in Labor votes is likely due to pre-poll and postal votes, which are now being counted and traditionally do not favour independents.
More than 642 votes from the electorate have so far been deemed invalid, which in such a tight race, could have made all the difference.
McGurk is the only sitting minister whose seat is in doubt following a resounding Labor victory on Saturday, delaying Premier Roger Cook’s announcement of his new ministry.
In the remaining eight seats yet to be called, Labor is ahead in four, the Liberals in three and the Nationals in one.
Authorities near Esperance will today decide whether to continue searching for the remains of surfer Steven Payne, 37, who was fatally mauled by a shark on Monday.
Wharton Beach has been closed since the tragedy, which occurred in chest-deep water and was witnessed by two nearby surfers and others on the beach, including Payne’s partner.
WA Police have been desperately trying to find Payne, but with no luck, have said they are now carrying out a recovery mission.
That’s because they’ve spoken to witnesses and seen drone footage that confirms the Melbourne local, who had just started a six-month road trip around Australia, will not be found alive.
“We also have some footage of after the initial attack that just makes it so obvious what happened .… it shows a lot of blood, the shark and some other things in there,” Senior Sergeant Chris Taylor said.
Here’s what’s making headlines this morning.
A cool change today, and what’s that? A chance of a shower?
Good morning readers, and welcome to our live news blog for Wednesday, March 12.
Making headlines today some of the most prominent residents of Perth’s “millionaires’ row” — from former WA governor Malcolm McCusker to media mogul Kerry Stokes — have been dragged into a bitter council dispute that has spilled out into the WA Supreme Court.
Read Jesinta Burton’s full court report here.
And yet another revelation has stemmed from the furore around the “outsourcing” of staffing and other works at Saturday’s state election.
Now, Hamish Hastie and Victoria Laurie report a subsidiary of the company that won an $86 million tender to recruit, train and manage 7000 election staff donated more than $67,000 to WA Labor last year.
Meanwhile, the residential property market in some Perth suburbs performed so strongly last year that it defied logic.
But for some of those suburbs there are early signs of a price correction, with quarterly data showing the median value is tracking lower.
And now that aggressive east coast investors have left the market, will there be a correction?
Sarah Brookes has the full story. You can read all about it here.
Thanks for joining us today. Stay tuned as we bring you more news you need to know.
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