Follow our live coverage here.
Follow our live coverage here.
Sticking with the Premier and Housing Minister John Carey’s press conference in Perth this morning Carey has partially blamed WA’s most infamous public servant for public housing stock going backwards for several years under Labor.
The total public housing stock dropped by nearly 2000 properties in the five years after Labor came to power in 2017; from 44,087 to 42,661.
It has since crept back to 44,591 as of September last year, but the issue has been a sore point for the government as the state grapples with a housing crisis.
In announcing a suite of new housing election promises Carey defended the slow growth in social housing numbers – blaming the now-jailed former Housing Authority general manager Paul Whyte.
“The whole organisation came to a standstill because of a major corruption scandal that had to reset the whole agency,” he said.
“Procurement processes had to be relooked at, everything had to be done.”
Whyte stole more than $22 million from the Department of Housing over a decade and is serving a 12-year prison sentence after being convicted of fraud in 2021.
Carey said his government had a target of 5300 new public housing dwellings – with 2800 constructed to date.
Opposition housing spokesman Steve Martin said Labor was blaming everyone else for their failures in housing.
“The dog ate my homework excuse doesn’t stack up,” he said.
“With less than three weeks before the election you’re trying to con voters that your focus is housing. What have you been focused on for the past eight years.”
Labor also promised $80 million to be tipped into the state’s social housing fund as well as $150 million in incentives to get build-to-rent apartment projects off the ground.
Premier Roger Cook has just given an update on ex-tropical cyclone Zelia, saying the state government is ready to deploy emergency relief payments as needed.
“The rapid damage assessment is ongoing, I’m advised the floodwaters are pretty much at their peak, so hopefully they will start receding soon,” he said.
“It’s a difficult situation … most of our focus at the moment is on the De Grey and Carlinde stations where the most extensive damage was experienced.”
The cyclone crossed the east Pilbara coast on Friday afternoon as a Category 4 system, bringing with it wind gusts up to 285 km/h at its core.
The De Grey river catchment reached record-breaking flood levels and is still considered a major flood event three days on from the cyclone.
To some education news now and West Australian schools relying on a free lunch program to help students and their families through the cost of living crisis has reported an increase in the number accessing the service.
Eat Up said 77 per cent of state schools using their program had recorded an increase in the number of students accessing it compared to the same time last year.
Now, around 20 per cent of students at each school are regularly relying on the free lunches. In the past financial year, Eat Up delivered a record-breaking 948,583 free school lunches to 912 schools nationwide – a 47 per cent increase in just 12 months.
Eat Up founder Lyndon Galea said the demand for services was exploding, with no signs of slowing down.
“More kids right across the country are relying on us for their school lunch because, for many, it’s the only one they’ll get,” he said.
“The reality is some parents simply can’t afford to send their kids to school with lunch every day. With schools now returning, more families are looking for help.”
The WA Greens have announced their plans to allocate $1.6 billion to provide free lunches statewide if elected in March, and have vowed to push other parties to adopt the policy if they are not elected.
A bushfire that was threatening lives and homes in Dunsborough yesterday is now under control, and has been downgraded to an advice alert.
Residents were last night told to evacuate due to the blaze’s unpredictability, with flames burning dangerously close to homes.
However, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said the fire was now contained and crews were this morning mopping up and patrolling the area.
A Perth doctor has been charged with manslaughter after a crash in Dalkeith killed a young woman and left another man fighting for his life.
The 45-year-old man will front court this morning, accused of being behind the wheel of a Jaguar around 10pm on Saturday night when it crossed onto the wrong side of the road, slamming into a parked ride-share car.
A 24-year-old woman inside the ride-share died at the scene. It’s understood she was just metres from her destination on Birdwood Parade.
Neighbours rushed to help the woman.
“It was just a massive crash, it was just an awful thing to hear,” resident Ellen told 9 News Perth.
“Someone from just the public were giving CPR until ambulance arrived quite a bit later.”
Despite efforts from paramedics, the passenger died from her injuries.
The driver of the Honda, a man in his 20s working as a ride-share driver, was left trapped in the car and emergency services had cut him out using the jaws of life.
He was fighting for survival in Royal Perth Hospital on Sunday night.
The doctor also suffered serious injuries.
He has been charged with manslaughter and dangerous driving and is due to front Perth Magistrates Court this morning.
His medical website says he will be unavailable for appointments due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Here’s what’s making news this morning:
- Plans to threaten US tech giants such as Meta with hundreds of millions of dollars in Australian charges have been paused amid works to stave off trade retaliation from the Trump administration.
- A taxi driver aligned with Australia’s largest cab company who systematically defrauded and repeatedly assaulted his profoundly disabled passengers was discovered by authorities only after he was arrested for drink-driving on the job.
- With speculation on election timing nearing fever pitch, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have been using traditional and social media to show off their families and create a positive impression in voters’ minds.
- Meanwhile, Dutton says Donald Trump needs to be cut “a bit of slack” as American voters reward him, while conceding not everything the US president says can be taken literally.
- Federal Labor has pledged to ban foreign investors from buying established homes for at least two years, replicating a Coalition promise.
Good morning readers, and welcome to Monday’s live news blog.
Making news this morning, flood threats persist for regional communities in the wake of a powerful cyclone that tore through Western Australia’s north.
Meanwhile, a Perth man says an extortion attempt at an electronics repair store landed him in a Beijing jail, where he was forced to confess to stealing his own phone.
And, elation over the recent rediscovery of the threatened western quoll in the Perth Hills is fading amid revelations toxic rat poison has been found in local populations.
With school recently returning, Kipp Freeman is deaf and has just started pre-primary without anyone in the classroom to translate for him. His parents have been forced to take time out of their jobs to make sure their son doesn’t fall behind.
You have not imagined it, Perth and Peel residents: the mozzies have been worse this year.
And we’re calling it – Western Australia is home to one of the greatest driving routes in the world.
Stay with us as we bring you the news of the day, as it happens.