Follow our live coverage here.
Follow our live coverage here.
An election battle is still raging in Perth’s hills, with Labor’s Trish Cook leading Liberal Matt Moran by fewer than 100 votes as counting continued in the fight for Bullwinkel late yesterday.
As of 8pm Wednesday, the Australian Electoral Commission count had Cook ahead by 86 votes.
It means the winner will come down to the remaining postal and absentee votes.
So far, there are about 2500 absentee votes and 160 postal votes waiting to be counted, but more postal votes may trickle in over coming days.
Postal votes are included in the count as long as they arrive within 13 days of election day. The margin in Bullwinkel makes it one of the tightest in the country.
WA’s other marginal count concluded yesterday, with Labor MP Josh Wilson pulling away from Climate 200-backed independent Kate Hulett to retain his seat of Fremantle.
Hulett managed to erode Wilson’s grip on the seat with a 15.8 per cent swing toward her, but by Wednesday afternoon he had an unassailable lead of 2000 votes.
The result mirrored Hulett’s attempt at unseating state Fremantle MP Simone McGurk in March, where she lost by just 424 votes.
Hulett said when people had a real, positive alternative to the same old politics, they voted for it.
“This whole campaign has been a win for the Fremantle community and the result is the strongest vindication yet of what I’ve always said – there are no safe seats and the government is on notice,” she said.
“Twice in two months we have shown Labor what happens when they take Fremantle for granted.
“They won’t make that mistake again.”
Wilson took to Facebook to thank the electorate for re-electing him.
“I have always said that I cannot imagine work that is more meaningful than serving the community that has shaped me, while carrying Freo’s values into the shaping of our national journey,” he said.
Gas giant Woodside will hold its annual general meeting at Crown Perth this morning, drawing shareholders and protesters alike to Burswood.
A protest led by the Conservation Council of WA and Greenpeace Australia is marching at the resort, urging shareholders to reject the company’s North West Shelf expansion plans.
The plans – which would extend the life of Woodside’s gas facility on the Burrup Peninsula near Karratha in the state’s north-west to 2070 – have been condemned for the carbon emissions the project would generate, as well as the impact on nearby rock art on the peninsula, which is tens of thousands of years old.
Revered West Australian public health expert, Professor Fiona Stanley, joined the protest and said she had been increasingly anxious about the health effects of climate changes for the past two decades.
“My argument has been that children and young people are much more vulnerable than any other age groups,” she said.
“There are three major areas of adverse health effects from Woodside’s fossil fuel activities: the clear and huge health impacts from rising temperatures and climate change; the local impact of pollution on the Pilbara community (mostly respiratory disease) and the negative effect on mental health in First Nations communities whose lands and culture is being destroyed.”
Greenpeace Australia chief executive David Ritter, who is set to participate in the AGM as a proxy shareholder, claimed the company had a “shameful environmental track record of harm to marine life, oil and chemical spills, and more”.
“Woodside’s planned Browse gas field would entail drilling up to 50 wells as close as 2 kilometres from Scott Reef, home to nesting sea turtles, endangered pygmy blue whales and dusky sea snakes.
“Its new carbon dumping plans involve repeated seismic blasting over the next 39 years, which can deafen whales, near Scott Reef.”
The activist group wants Woodside shareholders to vote down the re-election of board director Ann Pickard, who chairs the company’s sustainability committee.
The AGM itself gets under way at 10am.
An election battle is still raging in Perth’s hills, with Labor’s Trish Cook leading Liberal Matt Moran by fewer than 100 votes as counting continued in the fight for Bullwinkel late yesterday.
As of 8pm Wednesday, the Australian Electoral Commission count had Cook ahead by 86 votes.
It means the winner will come down to the remaining postal and absentee votes.
So far, there are about 2500 absentee votes and 160 postal votes waiting to be counted, but more postal votes may trickle in over coming days.
Postal votes are included in the count as long as they arrive within 13 days of election day. The margin in Bullwinkel makes it one of the tightest in the country.
WA’s other marginal count concluded yesterday, with Labor MP Josh Wilson pulling away from Climate 200-backed independent Kate Hulett to retain his seat of Fremantle.
Hulett managed to erode Wilson’s grip on the seat with a 15.8 per cent swing toward her, but by Wednesday afternoon he had an unassailable lead of 2000 votes.
The result mirrored Hulett’s attempt at unseating state Fremantle MP Simone McGurk in March, where she lost by just 424 votes.
Hulett said when people had a real, positive alternative to the same old politics, they voted for it.
“This whole campaign has been a win for the Fremantle community and the result is the strongest vindication yet of what I’ve always said – there are no safe seats and the government is on notice,” she said.
“Twice in two months we have shown Labor what happens when they take Fremantle for granted.
“They won’t make that mistake again.”
Wilson took to Facebook to thank the electorate for re-electing him.
“I have always said that I cannot imagine work that is more meaningful than serving the community that has shaped me, while carrying Freo’s values into the shaping of our national journey,” he said.
An elderly man has died after a crash in Canning Vale on Wednesday evening.
Police said the 78-year-old man was hit by a grey Honda CRV station wagon travelling south on Nicholson Road, just before the intersection with Ranford Road, about 6.20pm.
He was taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital with critical injuries, but later died.
A WA Police spokeswoman said the 39-year-old man allegedly behind the wheel of the Honda was not injured and was assisting police with their inquiries.
Anyone with information about the crash is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or make a report online.
The fallout and counting from Saturday’s election continues across Australia today.
Labor will continue preparations for its second term, with a caucus meeting set to occur in Canberra tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Coalition is preparing to appoint a new leader ahead of another three years in opposition.
Here’s what else you need to know as we start the morning:
Good morning readers, and welcome to our live news blog for Thursday, May 8.
Making headlines today is new data showing the growth in Perth’s most in-demand schools.
The government data reveals Rossmoyne Senior High School has become the state’s biggest school for the first time, surpassing the number enrolled at Shenton College by 51 students.
Eight public high schools now have more than 2000 enrolments, including Mount Lawley Senior High School, which recorded 2060 students in semester 1.
Holly Thompson has the full story. You can read all about it here.
Meanwhile, Jesinta Burton has an exclusive story about plans for a no-protest zone around Government House that were considered but ultimately abandoned by the City of Perth council.
Documents released under Freedom of Information laws and obtained by WAtoday show the proposal came to the council in January 2024 after an unnamed person — whose identity has been suppressed — raised safety concerns with former lord mayor Basil Zempilas.
The concerns related to arrests made over antisocial behaviour, high traffic and more than two dozen buses on St Georges Terrace.
The plan involved removing the “implied licence” of people to protest by standing on the footpath in front of the heritage-listed Government House.
You can read the full story here.
And finally, Perth’s outer suburban housing markets have outpaced their inner-city counterparts over the past year, with new data confirming the strongest housing conditions were concentrated in the fringes of the nation’s capitals.
Read Sarah Brookes’ story here.
Thank you for joining us today, stay tuned as we bring you more news you need to know.