Follow our live coverage here.
Follow our live coverage here.
Sticking with the CEDA breakfast, where WA Premier Roger Cook has just railed against what he called “misinformation” surrounding the LNG sector.
The premier said the state needed to have a more “sophisticated conversation” around the importance of gas in helping trading partners like Japan to decarbonise their economies by moving away from coal.
“If we are to see further investment in our LNG sector, we will need to work together to counter the misinformation put forward by some, many of it from a well-meaning place, all of it from a misinterpretation of that data that’s sitting in front of all us” he said.
“If we’re to realise the economic and environmental benefits from helping our major trading partners to transition over the long term, we need to fight for them now.
“And we will need a ‘Team WA’ approach to do this. One where industry consistently tells the story of how LNG is contributing to the decarbonisation efforts of the countries that it sells into.”
Cook’s comments came as a small group of climate protesters gathered outside the Westin Hotel where the breakfast is being held this morning.
The event is sponsored by gas players Woodside, BP, ATCO, Australian Gas Infrastructure Group and Horizon Power.
Cook also said the social licence of WA’s gas sector is underpinned by the state’s longstanding gas reservation policy.
Thanks for joining us today. We’ll see you tomorrow.
Here’s today’s headlines:
The car of missing German backpacker Carolina Wilga has been found abandoned in WA’s Wheatbelt region.
Police say they found the 1995 Mitsubishi Delica van just after 1pm on Thursday in the Karroun Hill area.
It is believed to have suffered mechanical issues.
Wilga was not at the scene and police say they are continuing their search for her.
“Additional resources [have been] deployed to the area,” a WA police spokesperson said.
“Inquiries are ongoing, and anyone with any information in relation to the whereabouts of Carolina Wilga is urged to contact police immediately.”
Police say they are following up tips across regional Western Australia in the hunt for a German backpacker who went missing in the Wheatbelt region 12 days ago.
Detectives believe Carolina Wilga was in the Beacon area, about 330 kilometres from Perth, at the time.
The 26-year-old was seen on CCTV captured by a general store in the town at 12.10pm on June 29, which showed her pull her 1995 Mitsubishi Delica van in front of the closed shop.
She has not been seen or heard from since.
Police released that CCTV footage in a bid to find her, and you can watch it below.
Beloved Perth socialite Eileen Bond will be remembered with a funeral mass at Fremantle’s St Patrick’s Basilica next week.
A funeral notice posted on Thursday said the mass for the Bond family matriarch would be held on Monday, July 14, beginning at 9.30am, and would be followed by a private burial.
Eileen – affectionately known as “Red” – was the wife of colourful businessman Alan Bond. She died on Wednesday last week, having suffered a stroke the preceding Sunday.
In a statement, Eileen’s children described their mother as the “glue” of the Bond family.
“We have so many wonderful, funny and caring memories to treasure and we have been overwhelmed by the messages of support and the frankly hilarious stories that have surfaced over many decades – a testament to the vibrant and unforgettable woman she was,” they said.
“Red only knew one speed – flat out – and she brought everyone along for the ride. She touched countless lives with her generosity, humour, and unmistakable energy. She brought joy wherever she went.”
Eileen was raised in Fremantle and was by Alan’s side in 1983 in the port city during the historic America’s Cup sailing win.
“She somehow managed to turn the whole American public away from those who were defending the cup and in favour of the Australians,” her son John Bond told ABC last week.
The 87-year-old was also a passionate South Fremantle Football Club supporter, with her family having connections to the club spanning a century.
Alan and Eileen were married for 37 years. He died in 2015, aged 77, from complications during heart surgery.
The WA Greens have taken issue with Premier Roger Cook’s comments at a gas industry breakfast earlier this morning where he lavished praise on the industry for helping decarbonise Asian trading partners.
The premier said the state needed to have a more “sophisticated conversation” around the importance of gas in helping trading partners like Japan to decarbonise their economies by moving away from coal.
But Greens fossil fuels spokeswoman Sophie McNeill said it was unbelievable the premier continued to champion gas during a climate emergency.
“When the premier says there is misinformation about WA gas, he is absolutely right; everything that WA Labor is telling us about gas is a lie,” she said.
“It is not possible to use fossil fuels, such as gas, to decarbonise. To pretend otherwise is dangerous misinformation from the WA Premier.
“This myth that gas will lead the transition to net zero is a deliberate lie that has been cooked up by Woodside, and it is embarrassing that the premier believes it.
“Premier Roger Cook and WA Labor have been hoodwinked by the gas industry into a future dependent on more gas at a time when we must be rapidly reducing emissions and investing in renewable energy.”
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has hit back at North Melbourne great David King, questioning the weight of the analyst’s opinions given he has never put together a game plan, list nor culture.
In the wake of Fremantle’s 11-point loss to Sydney on Sunday, King declared Longmuir must guide the Dockers to finals action this year to show he is “the man” to lead the club forward.
“Is he the guy to take them all the way to a premiership? Sixth year, I have my doubts. I’ve had my doubts for a while,” King told Fox Footy during his extended critique of Longmuir.
The Dockers had won six games in a row before falling to Sydney.
Although that defeat dropped Fremantle to ninth on the ladder, their 10-6 record means they are just a win and percentage adrift of the top four ahead of Saturday night’s crunch home clash with Hawthorn.
Longmuir is now in his sixth year as Fremantle coach, but their only finals performance to date came in 2022.
King has taken regular pot shots at Longmuir over the years, especially for things like the team’s slow ball movement, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me what I’ve done to David King, I’d be a rich man,” Longmuir said on Thursday.
“I’d probably be in the Bahamas, guts up, rather than doing this job.
“But in the end, everyone needs to understand that it’s just David’s opinion.
“I don’t want to be disrespectful towards anyone, but I don’t think David’s put together a game plan, put together a list, put together a culture.
“It’s just an opinion, and that’s what I take it as.”
Longmuir has guided Fremantle to 63 wins, 58 losses and two draws in his tenure.
But their dramatic fall from grace at the tail-end of last year – they lost their last four games to crash from the top four to 10th on the ladder – raised the pressure on Longmuir heading into this season.
AAP
One of the state’s peak mining bodies has warned companies across the sector could be up for a $250 million bill after the Supreme Court backed a push for the Shire of Mount Magnet to charge a vanadium miner rates on land held with a miscellaneous licence.
The shire sent a rates bill to Atlantic Vanadium in 2023 for land it owned under a miscellaneous licence near its Windimurra vanadium project.
Atlantic successfully challenged the shire’s position that land held under miscellaneous licence was rateable land in the State Administrative Tribunal last year.
The Supreme Court gave the green light for the Shire to appeal the SAT’s decision this week.
Association of Mining and Exploration Companies chief executive Warren Pearce said the decision of the Supreme Court flipped a 40-year-old understanding that local governments were unable to levy rates on miscellaneous licences.
He said if the appeal was ultimately successful it could expose other miscellaneous licences held across the sector to local government rates which he conservative calculated to be $50 million annually and with five years of back payments, it could amount to a $250 million hit.
“This decision by the Supreme Court to recast miscellaneous licences as an area that can be rated will badly hurt the resources sector in WA,” he said.
“We are asking the WA government to immediately step in, and urgently legislate to preserve the longstanding principle that miscellaneous licences are not, and should not, be rated.
“This was never the intention of the parliament, and government must act to preserve the status quo.”
More than 20,000 people have flocked to the WA Museum in the opening week of its exhibition of the Shaanxi terracotta warriors, according to government figures.
The exhibition – Terracotta Warriors: Legacy of the First Emperor – features 225 objects loaned from Emperor Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Site Museum and from 17 other museums across China.
Among the displays is 10 clay army figures: eight warriors, a seated attendant and a saddled horse.
Museum director Alec Coles told WAtoday last month that the exhibition was the largest of its kind outside China, with objects on display spanning a 1000-year period.
“Nearly three quarters of the objects have never been seen in Australia and we’re told almost half have never before left China,” he said.
Creative Industries Minister Simone McGurk on Thursday said the exhibition had far-reaching impacts for WA’s tourism and hospitality industries as interstate visitors travelled west to see the warriors.
“Exhibitions like this show that Western Australia can stage blockbuster exhibitions and offers something for everyone,” she said.
The government expects about 180,000 people – including more than 60,000 from interstate and overseas – will visit the exhibition over the 7½ months it is open.
Sticking with the CEDA breakfast, where WA Premier Roger Cook has just railed against what he called “misinformation” surrounding the LNG sector.
The premier said the state needed to have a more “sophisticated conversation” around the importance of gas in helping trading partners like Japan to decarbonise their economies by moving away from coal.
“If we are to see further investment in our LNG sector, we will need to work together to counter the misinformation put forward by some, many of it from a well-meaning place, all of it from a misinterpretation of that data that’s sitting in front of all us” he said.
“If we’re to realise the economic and environmental benefits from helping our major trading partners to transition over the long term, we need to fight for them now.
“And we will need a ‘Team WA’ approach to do this. One where industry consistently tells the story of how LNG is contributing to the decarbonisation efforts of the countries that it sells into.”
Cook’s comments came as a small group of climate protesters gathered outside the Westin Hotel where the breakfast is being held this morning.
The event is sponsored by gas players Woodside, BP, ATCO, Australian Gas Infrastructure Group and Horizon Power.
Cook also said the social licence of WA’s gas sector is underpinned by the state’s longstanding gas reservation policy.
To politics now, and WAtoday is at the CEDA’s energy transition breakfast this morning, where the WA Premier Roger Cook is the keynote speaker.
Cook has been espousing the merits of the changes his government made to environmental laws over the past two years in the effort to build new renewable energy projects across the state.
He has also made some of his strongest comments to date over the state’s planned exit from coal-fired electricity generation.
“There have been some tired arguments from some cynics that we won’t have enough generation to replace coal,” he said.
“But let me put it on the record – they are wrong. Over the next two years, more than 1.2 gigawatts of new energy generation and storage will enter the market.
“Then, in the final three years of the decade, we have identified a pipeline of credible and prospective energy generation projects that add up to around 8.5 gigawatts.
“That’s nearly 10 gigawatts in the pipeline.
“Enough to meet what our own modelling and what the independent market operator says will be required to replace coal and support the strongest economy in the nation, as well as the fastest growing population in the nation.”