WA news LIVE: Former MP James Hayward lifts lid on jail time as he waits for retrial over alleged child sex abuse; Woman ploughs car through petrol station windows​on February 6, 2025 at 11:34 pm

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 in 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:

A top of 36 degrees today, with no more 40 degree days in sight for now.

Good morning, readers. Happy Friday!

Remember the Baldivis sinkhole of 2019? Well, it appears we could be about to get a blow-by-blow of what unfolded behind the scenes between developer Stockland and lead contractor Probuild.

Stockland has launched Supreme Court action against Probuild and its plumbing contractor, demanding damages and compensation over the 20-metre wide sinkhole that appeared outside its namesake shopping centre in February 2019.

The developer is confident the incident was caused by a failure of its underground stormwater drainage system, and is now chasing a builder that has since gone bust.

You can read about it here.

Meanwhile, Claire Ottaviano reveals all but two of 32 cygnets hatched at a $2 million black swan refuge in South Perth have died, according to residents who frequent the area.

Despite what a wildlife advocacy group dubbed a “bumper crop” of cygnets born over the past two nesting seasons, observations showed only one of 33 hatchlings survived from 2023’s broods, and only two of 32 from 2024.

Why? You can read the full story here.

And our food reviewer Max Veenhuyzen takes us to Manning Road in Bentley, where Mountain Mantras explores the world of Himalayan cooking beyond the ubiquitous momo.