Follow our live coverage here.
Follow our live coverage here.
Who doesn’t love some feel-good news about a cute marsupial?
New research has revealed the Gilbert’s potoroo – Australia’s most critically endangered marsupial and the world’s rarest – is showing signs of population recovery in WA.
The little marsupial was near extinction but years of ongoing efforts from scientists is changing that.
The research, led by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions in partnership with university researchers and The Gilbert’s Potoroo Action Group, was published in Pacific Conservation Biology.
It details 30 years of conservation work since the species was rediscovered at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve near Albany in 1994, after being presumed extinct for over a century.
Following its rediscovery, scientists established two ‘insurance populations’ between 2005 and 2014 – one on Bald Island off Cheynes Beach in the Great Southern region and a second in a mainland enclosure within nearby Waychinicup National Park.
These insurance populations proved vital when a devastating bushfire swept through Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve in 2015, effectively wiping out the original population.
Scientists are now working to restore this population using animals from the insurance colonies.
Turning to the District Court now, and a former Nationals MP who was serving almost three years in jail for child sex abuse until having his conviction quashed has lifted the lid on his 410-day prison stint as he awaits a date for his retrial.
James Dorrin Hayward stood trial in August 2023, where he was found guilty of abusing an eight-year-old girl on two occasions between 2019 and 2021 and sentenced to two years and nine months jail.
But the 56-year-old was released on bail last month after having his convictions set aside and his request for a retrial granted by the Court of Appeal.
During a District Court hearing on Friday, the state requested a four-week adjournment before dates were set for a retrial to assess the availability of witnesses.
The matter is expected to return to court on March 7.
The court is yet to release its reasons for the decision, but Hayward is understood to have claimed he did not receive a fair trial.
Outside court, Hayward told the media the 410 days he spent behind bars were “tremendously difficult” and vowed to lay bare the poor treatment of prisoners should he be successful in his bid to return to parliament.
“It was very depressing. Prison is a pretty awful place to be, and there are a lot of guys in there doing it really, really tough,” he said.
“There are three guys in a cell at Hakea [Prison] at the moment in a cell designed for a single person – I mean, that’s the outrageous state of our justice system in terms of how we’re looking after our prisoners.”
Since his release, the former upper house member has been vying to return to parliament because the convictions which rendered him ineligible for higher office have since been overturned.
Hayward confirmed he had penned a letter to parliament seeking clarification on whether he could return and deliver an hour-long valedictory speech protected by parliamentary privilege, something he told the media he wanted to utilise to “say some things some might not want to hear”.
Hayward resigned from the WA Nationals when the charges were laid in December 2021, but continued serving as an independent MP until he was convicted.
The day after Hayward’s conviction, the government passed a motion which stripped him of his rights as a former member of parliament – including his right to access Parliament House.
Hayward has always maintained his innocence.
The Liberals have been licking their chops after that Productivity Commission report we reported on earlier this morning.
Leader Libby Mettam has wasted no time capitalising on it, announcing a new nurse attraction strategy.
The Pathway to Patients election pledge is a $40 million program that would offer nurses studying and working in WA up to $20,000.
Student nurses would be offered $12,500 over the course of their degree and a further $7500 if they stay in the state and work in the hospital system for two years.
Mettam said she expected the program to put at least 2000 additional nurses in the pipeline.
“Under Roger Cook we have some of the lowest rates of nursing in the country,” she said.
“Healthcare professionals are leaving the sector because they’re being asked to do more with less under WA Labor.
“By directly supporting university students financially through the Pathways to Patients program, we are investing in more than just students, we are investing in the future health of West Australians.”
Mettam was flanked by studying nurse Amy who said a commitment like that would mean she would not need to worry about student debt.
“I can put my money toward important things like a house deposit and cost of living as well because I’m not going to have the pressure of a large student debt,” she said.
When asked whether she was worried about entering the strained system Amy gave the government a good plug.
“I know that we do need a lot more nurses. I know that the government is going to support us so I’m not feeling very worried,” she said.
He’s a one-cap England international whose glorious mullet is already causing problems at schools, and now Nic Dolly has his eyes firmly set on donning Wallabies gold.
Dolly was among the Western Force’s big off-season signings, and he has high hopes of helping the Super Rugby Pacific franchise snare a finals berth this year.
His journey to Perth has been a unique one.
Sydney-born Dolly had just completed high school when he set off to England at the end of 2016 for what was meant to be an eight-week holiday to visit family.
That eight-week plan turned into an eight-year English adventure, which included a shock Test debut for England against South Africa in 2021 under Eddie Jones.
The 25-year-old’s shock appearance for England ended up being in a brave win over South Africa.
It would be Dolly’s only appearance for England, and he is now eligible to represent Australia given more than three years have passed.
Dolly’s mullet has already had a big impact on kids across England, and the theme is set to continue in Australia.
“It’s quite funny when parents come up to you and say, ‘my kid’s got a mullet because of you’, or ‘The school made him chop it off and he’s devastated’,” Dolly said with a laugh.
“It’s pretty cool you can have that influence on kids.”
Dolly, who will compete with Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Tom Horton for the hooker role at the Force, declared he is keen to stick around and help the club achieve long-term success.
AAP
But, on another health-related note, it’s good news for St John WA – after a tumultuous time under the spotlight for growing wait times for priority one cases, the latest data shows they are now the fastest metropolitan ambulance service in the country.
Priority one response times were 9.6 minutes in the 2023 to 2024 financial year. Across WA, the response time was 9.9 minutes, in line with Tasmania in the top spot.
Triple zero call takers answered 97.3 per cent of calls in under 10 seconds – the best result for WA in the past decade.
St John also received over 3 million calls – also the highest number of calls, emergency incidents and total patients in a decade.
St John WA chief emergency officer Brendon Brodie-Hall hailed the findings as the result of all the hard work of team members working together to meet the communities’ expectations of their ambulance service.
Chief-executive Kevin Brown agreed, welcoming the findings.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our people on the frontline and in our State Control Centre – they do an incredible job getting information quickly and calmly from people during the most stressful time in their lives to ensure they deliver the best patient care possible,” Brown said.
“And I thank those who co-ordinate, innovate and transform the service to respond appropriately to patients needs while ensuring in a life-threatening emergency we have the resources to deploy rapidly.”
Urgent and semi-urgent patient wait times in WA’s hospital emergency departments are some of the worst in the country, according to a new Productivity Commission report.
The report into the nation’s health sector painted a dire picture of ED wait times across the country but WA took the unwanted trophy in those two categories – which make up a large slice of ED presentations.
According to the report, only 32 per cent of patients triaged as “urgent” – meaning they needed to be seen within half an hour – were seen on time.
That was by far the worst in the nation, with South Australia coming in second at 38 per cent and New South Wales leading the pack at the other end with 69 per cent of patients seen on time.
Only 49 per cent of “semi-urgent” patients – those who needed to be seen within an hour – were seen on time.
This was the second-worst in the country after the Northern Territory’s 47 per cent, while Queensland hospital managed to see 77 per cent of these patients on time.
The report found ambulance response times had marginally improved in WA, down from 10 minutes in 2022-23 to 9.6 minutes.
The cardiac arrest survival rate by patients picked up by ambulances in WA has improved considerably from 21.5 per cent in 2022-23 to 47.99 per cent in 2023-24.
On the GP front, the cost-of-living crisis is biting with 7.7 per cent of people delaying or avoiding a doctor due to cost in 2023-24, up from 4.6 per cent in 2022-23.
This also applied to medicines, with 7.8 per cent of people delayed or not buying prescription medication because of the cost in 2023-24, up from 6.5 per cent the previous year.
Liberal leader Libby Mettam pounced on the report ahead of a commitment to boost the number of nurses in the hospital system on Friday.
“WA Labor says West Australians have never had it so good, but the reality is more and more are having to choose between seeing a GP and eating dinner,” she said.
“We have lived through the biggest boom in WA’s history; it shouldn’t feel like our healthcare system is on life support.”
Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson was approached for comment.
It was deja vu for those hopping on the Yanchep and Mandurah lines to get to work this morning.
The train services were delayed again due to a technical issue. Reports from those stuck at train stations were that most people were irate, and asking for a refund on their ticket or Smartrider as wait times ballooned.
It appears a train broke down in Perth and had to be towed away by another train.
The same lines have been hit with similar problems multiple times in the past month, including a list of days in January, and on February 2.
In good news the trains are moving again, but there are still delays with trains not running on their regular schedule.
We would recommend taking an alternative route to work today.
WA veterans will soon have access to more crisis accommodation and services, following a long battle to secure funding to the tune of $5 million.
The money from the federal government’s $30 million Veterans’ Acute Housing Program, will be spent on building the Andrew Russell Veteran Living Centre, comprising 16 units.
The building is now only waiting on council approval.
Steven Foster signed up for the airforce when he was a teenager, like his father and grandfather before him.
“I had a great time, I did my three years thinking there could be something better, which I’m still looking for,” he told 9 News Perth.
He worked various fields after leaving the airforce, including construction and mining, but found himself homeless between jobs.
“I got behind on my rent, I got kicked out. I lived in my car for about eight months until I couldn’t afford to run it any more because I just wasn’t getting the work.”
Veteran’s Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said people would be surprised to learn veterans were more likely to experience homelessness.
Foster said he was feeling “so good now” after the announcement. “I can feel my spiritual vibration coming up,” he said.
We start off our live blog this morning with some crime news – a car has ploughed into the front of a petrol station overnight in East Fremantle.
A woman drove through the front windows of an Ampol Foodary along Canning Highway around 11pm Thursday night.
It appears she drove straight off the highway and through the building, before the car came to a stop in front of one of the fridges.
Luckily, she avoided hitting anyone, or any of the petrol bowsers. 9 News Perth has reported a medical episode could have been to blame for the incident.
The woman was taken to Royal Perth Hospital where she remains in a stable condition. She did not injure herself in the crash.
The cleanup is now underway, with skip bins filled with chip packets and other food items that were hit by the vehicle.
Anyone with information is urged to contact CrimeStoppers.
Here’s a glance at what’s making news this morning:
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