Follow our live coverage here.
Follow our live coverage here.
And in breaking news, Premier Roger Cook has confirmed the NRL is coming to Perth, with the state government inking a $65 million deal with the Rugby League Commission.
The long-awaited deal will involve $60 million in direct financial support and another $5.6 million in marketing and match day support via the state’s tourism body, but the government claims the return on investment is tipped to be greater.
It is understood the league has agreed not to charge the state a license fee.
In a post shared to social media on Wednesday afternoon, Cook said the agreement was great news for the state’s economy and for local jobs.
“Because of our strong negotiating position, the new WA-based NRL side will be chaired by a Western Australian and controlled by members, rather than a private company,” he said.
“From the beginning, we’ve said any deal would have to represent value for WA taxpayers and that is what we have delivered, with Acil Allen modelling indicating a significant return on investment to our economy.
“A new WA NRL club will deliver jobs and new economic activity, including a boost in tourism and visitation as the WA brand is exposed to millions across Australia and overseas.”
The new team is expected to compete in the national league for the first time in 2027 or 2028.
We’re bringing our blog to a close for the day, thank you for joining us. We will have more for you in our next coverage.
Here’s what made headlines today:
We’ll see you again tomorrow for more news you need to know.
An update on the trial of the group accused of murdering teenager Cassius Turvey – the jury have just finished deliberating for their third full day.
The trial, which started nearly three months ago, is complex, with the jury of 12 having to decide on 21 charges spread across five accused people and two different incidents.
We’ll bring you the verdict as soon as it is handed down.
And opposition energy spokesman Steve Thomas has weighed in on Premier Roger Cook’s comments distancing himself from the state government’s plan to legislate emissions targets, labelling it another admission its transition plan won’t work.
Earlier today, Cook dodged questions about whether the government still intended to legislate net zero by 2050 at a state level, saying he didn’t want to “shackle” WA to more onerous targets and insisting WA was already captured by the national plan.
While the comments drew criticism from the Greens, Thomas told WAtoday he was unsurprised.
“I welcome the comments because this is another admission that the current transition plan isn’t going to work and [Cook] will have to review the state government’s goal,” he said.
“I simply wish he had been honest about it before the election.
“The current plan doesn’t work, there is not enough generation or storage and the government will have no choice but to extend the life of the coal-fired stations and ensure more gas generation is in the system well before renewables and storage can come close to keeping the lights on in WA. This is reality coming home.”
Cook has been at pains to point out WA is in a vastly different position to the rest of the country, with the extraction of critical minerals and gas and the processing of iron ore onshore tipped to see emissions temporarily increase.
Fremantle won’t swing the axe after their battering from St Kilda, with under fire coach Justin Longmuir saying the Dockers have “spread the burden of blame” over the demoralising loss.
Criticism has come from all corners after last Friday’s 61-point thumping in Melbourne, where the Saints obliterated Fremantle at stoppages.
But with a tight turnaround to face second-placed Collingwood at Optus Stadium on Thursday night, wholesale changes aren’t on the cards.
“We’re not going to wield the axe,” Longmuir said.
“We’ve had a calm week internally, we’ve learned from Friday night, we’ve gotta put out a more consistent effort.
“But we can’t get caught up in wielding the axe after a poor performance and everything being great after the Adelaide game.
“We just need to calm down a little bit and we need to make sure internally we’re really consistent with our behaviours, we’re really consistent with the way we approach things, and that in turn will help us become more consistent on the field.”
And in breaking news, Premier Roger Cook has confirmed the NRL is coming to Perth, with the state government inking a $65 million deal with the Rugby League Commission.
The long-awaited deal will involve $60 million in direct financial support and another $5.6 million in marketing and match day support via the state’s tourism body, but the government claims the return on investment is tipped to be greater.
It is understood the league has agreed not to charge the state a license fee.
In a post shared to social media on Wednesday afternoon, Cook said the agreement was great news for the state’s economy and for local jobs.
“Because of our strong negotiating position, the new WA-based NRL side will be chaired by a Western Australian and controlled by members, rather than a private company,” he said.
“From the beginning, we’ve said any deal would have to represent value for WA taxpayers and that is what we have delivered, with Acil Allen modelling indicating a significant return on investment to our economy.
“A new WA NRL club will deliver jobs and new economic activity, including a boost in tourism and visitation as the WA brand is exposed to millions across Australia and overseas.”
The new team is expected to compete in the national league for the first time in 2027 or 2028.
After days of neck-and-neck counting in the Federal seat of Fremantle, it appears sitting Labor member Josh Wilson will just hold on to his job following a significant challenge from independent candidate Kate Hulett.
With more than 80 per cent of the vote counted, this masthead has declared Labor the winner with postal and absentee votes falling in Wilson’s favour and stretching his lead out to more than 2000 votes as of this afternoon.
Previously, the seat was one of Labor’s safest with a 16.9 per cent swing towards the party. That swing will likely be reduced to around 1 or 2 per cent once voting is complete.
The Fremantle call leaves just one WA seat still yet to be decided, with the count in Bullwinkel still too close to call. Labor candidate Trish Cook is currently leading by 174 votes, ahead of the Liberal’s Matt Moran.
The Greens have come out swinging over comments made by Premier Roger Cook which cast doubt over the state government’s commitment to a plan to achieve net zero by 2050, branding it a betrayal of voters.
“We are the only state without a 2030 emissions reduction target, and we are the only state without a legislated plan to achieve net zero by 2050,” WA Greens leader Brad Pettitt said.
“Walking away from this promise to the Western Australian public is a betrayal not only to future generations but to those voters today who expected to see a Labor government lead on one of the greatest challenges of our time.”
Cook insisted the state government remained committed to meeting its obligations under a national 2050 target.
But he dodged questions about whether it still intended to make good on its commitment to legislate net zero at a state level, saying he didn’t want to “shackle” WA to more onerous targets.
The premier pointed out WA was poised to play a unique role in the race to net zero, warning emissions would likely rise as the state extracted critical minerals and gas and processed iron ore onshore, but maintained emissions associated with the global supply chain would fall.
An update now on the group of seven false whales that stranded on House Beach, east of Bremer Bay on Monday night.
A fifth whale has died overnight after it was moved out to deeper waters yesterday, but re-stranded itself.
A Parks and Wildlife spokesperson said responders had been able to stabilise and free the three surviving whales yesterday, but that they were forced to humanely euthanise one that later returned to shore to avoid prolonging its suffering.
Two of the whales remain swimming freely offshore.
“A huge thank you to the members of the public who reported the incident to [the department] and assisted staff throughout the response,” they said.
Commuters in Perth’s south-eastern suburbs are about to have a quicker commute with new train stations along the Thornlie-Cockburn line including at Nicholson Road and Ranford Road opening next month.
The new line, which connects commuters to the CBD by linking to the existing Cockburn Central station on the Mandurah line, will be a “game changer” for east-west connections, transport minister Rita Saffioti told reporters this morning.
But she warned the new lines would bring about significant changes to existing bus routes.
“In many instances, there will be people who will need to now change from a bus to a train, and we know that is change, but we know that when you build a rail line you get a more efficient system, and we want more people to use our public transport system, so we’ll be announcing all of those bus services online and making sure people get across it,” she said.
Saffioti said the opening of the new line, occurring on June 9, will also mean commuters save around 20 to 25 minutes on their trip to Optus Stadium for sporting and entertainment events.
Premier Roger Cook has cast doubt over the state government’s commitment to legislate a plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050, ruling out “shackling” Western Australia to more onerous targets and reiterating the state’s “unique” role in the global energy transition.
During a press conference this morning, Cook dodged questions about whether the government still intended to legislate a 2050 target for WA, which is currently the only state without one.
The premier told reporters the government would review what WA’s obligations were under the national legislation, and indicated he would review drafted state legislation to ensure it was still “fit for purpose”.
The national legislation, which Cook said he was committed to, also has a net zero emissions by 2050 target.
Cook reiterated that the state was poised to play a unique role in the global bid to get to net zero, warning emissions would likely rise as the state ramps up the extraction of critical minerals, processes iron ore onshore and extracts more gas to supplement the shift away from coal.
“We want to make sure that Western Australia, one, gets to net zero by 2050, and two, that we help the globe to decarbonise through our critical minerals, our iron ore, and particularly the development of green iron through the use of renewable energies,” he said.
“If we are going to process more iron ore in WA as part of our green energy future, well then you will see WA’s emissions potentially rise, but you will see the actual emissions associated with the global supply chain and steel significantly reduce.
“It’s a huge opportunity for the globe. I’m not going to shackle Western Australia to legislation which damages our efforts to help the world to decarbonise and reduce emissions.”
WA’s carbon emissions remain on an upward trajectory, having risen 20 per cent in the past two decades.