Follow our live coverage here.
Follow our live coverage here.
The prime minister and WA Premier Roger Cook are holding a press conference at Winthrop Primary School this morning. You can watch it live below:
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is back in Perth today, looking to shore up votes in the west as the election campaign draws to a close.
Albanese arrived late on Wednesday, paying a visit to a polling booth in Midland, bordering the crucial seats of Hasluck and Bullwinkel.
Things got off to their usual start with the prime minister cooing at 5 ½-month-old Annabelle as mum Kyra lined up to cast her vote.
But the situation quickly devolved.
Liberal volunteers began yelling “keep the sheep” (referring to live sheep exports, a hot-button election issue in WA), kicking off a chain reaction of chants from party supporters. Labor’s army began repeating their party name, prompting one Greens supporter to yell “stop AUKUS”.
Voters remained relatively unfazed.
“It’s an enormous privilege to meet you,” David Leith said as Albanese greeted queuing locals.
This was his 33rd trip to WA and, asked if he would continue to make 10 visits a year, the PM said, “you bet”.
Albanese has been on a radio blitz on Thursday morning, chatting with hosts on Triple M, Nova, and joking with KIIS radio host Kyle Sandilands that a US envoy gig could be on the cards for him.
The PM will also visit a school in the electorate of Tangney, which is held by Labor MP Sam Lim on a margin of 2.8 per cent, and is the ALP’s most marginal in the state.
Albanese will be joined by popular Premier Roger Cook, deputy prime minister Richard Marles, Lim and about 250 students from grades 4, 5 and 6.
He will be talking about the Gonski funding deal, which will deliver about $2.4 billion in extra funding to WA state schools over a decade.
We’ll bring you more on that as it happens.
Here’s what’s making headlines elsewhere today:
A 32-year-old man has been charged over an incident yesterday where a Jeep plunged into the river off Claremont Jetty.
Police allege that, prior to the jetty drama, the man had approached a woman in a car while wielding a tyre iron, before stealing a personal item from her.
The man also allegedly drove the Jeep Wrangler into a police car, causing what a police spokesperson described as “significant damage”.
Police attempted to negotiate with the man when he maneuvered the Wrangler onto the Claremont Jetty about 10am on Wednesday, but the drama came to a head when the bright red 4WD was driven into the river.
The man was pulled from the water by TRG officers and escorted to a waiting ambulance before he was taken to hospital.
He is due to face court on Thursday charged with one count of armed robbery and one count of criminal damage or destruction of property.
A bit warm today. What happened to autumn?
Good morning readers and welcome to our live news blog for Thursday, May 1.
And just like that, we’re only a couple of days away from the federal election. Will Anthony Albanese lead Labor to victory once again? Or will voters back Peter Dutton’s vision for a nuclear-powered Australia?
State political reporter Hamish Hastie has been on the frontline looking at some of the biggest political contests in WA.
Today, he speaks with Liberal candidate for Curtin, Tom White, who is looking to unseat teal independent Kate Chaney in the conservative heartland.
He also heads south to speak with the woman who is perhaps WA’s most senior federal MP – Resources Minister Madeleine King.
Meanwhile, remember that story we brought you earlier this week about the century-old house in the middle of a Hancock Prospecting development that was devoid of heritage protections?
Well, it turns out the house was actually being considered for a spot on Perth’s heritage list following a survey, but a heated council meeting saw its removal, along with 15 others.
Jesinta Burton has the full story. You can read all about it here.
Thank you for joining us this morning. Stay tuned as we bring you more news you need to know.