Category Archives: Western Australia

Not cool: push for insulation in all Australian rental homes as study shows dangerous heat levels

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People in social housing often face hottest conditions and struggle to pay for air conditioning, advocates say

Advocates are calling for insulation to be regulated in all Australian rental properties as research shows some people swelter through temperatures above 30C in their homes for extended periods in summer.

Many of the hottest homes are those of people living in social housing, with some residents forced to go into debt to buy air conditioners, or hose down their houses to stay cool.

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Banksia Hill: autistic teenage girl ‘treated like a dog’ at detention centre, class action alleges

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Girl, first detained at 13, suffered ‘extremely traumatic’ restraining with handcuffs, leg shackles and spit hoods, court document claims

An autistic teenage girl detained at Banksia Hill Detention Centre was forced to use underwear stained with menstrual blood and sleep on a mattress covered with “excrement and saliva”, according to a legal document filed in support of a class action against the West Australian government.

The affidavit by lawyer Stewart Levitt alleges the girl was fed meals through a grille and was forced to “earn” her bedding. She felt like she was being “treated like a dog” and responded by sleeping on the concrete floor of her cell and pretending she was a dog, the document states.

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News live updates: Albanese flags Australian interest in Papua New Guinea hydro and hydrogen; NSW and Victoria rule out Pell state funeral

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Victorian premier says there will not be a state service for cardinal, out of respect for victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. Follow live

Visa processing problems in spotlight

Pat Conroy acknowledged ongoing visa processing issues and said the government was “hopeful that we can get a resolution on that issue”:

People in Papua New Guinea are also very keen on our Pacific engagement visa, which is about creating 3,000 permanent migration spots each year into Australia … and there’s also lots of interest in Papua New Guineans working, studying in Australia as well.

His message around democracies is that [it is] incumbent upon politicians in both countries [to] defend democracy and we defend democracy by demonstrating it’s the best system to deliver actual benefits for the people that we govern. So that’s about investing in stronger health outcomes, lifting stronger economic outcomes.

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Australia news live: huge solar venture backed by Andrew Forrest and Mike Cannon-Brookes collapses

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Sun Cable placed in voluntary administration. Follow the day’s news live

Australian involvement in construction of Aukus submarines important, acting defence minister says

More on submarines. In an interview with ABC Radio, the veterans affairs and acting defence minister, Matt Keogh, has reaffirmed the government’s confidence it can reach its deadline of acquiring nuclear submarines by the end of the next decade.

We’re certainly alive to the concerns that were raised in that letter that those congressmen wrote, but we’ve been engaging with the Biden administration, very positively … The American government and the UK Government are as committed as the Australian government to this project and see that there is a pathway forward on how we will go about procuring these submarines.

The industrial base for all of the three countries – Australia included - is critical to achieving those outcomes and making sure that we’re able to grow the pie by bringing the Australian industrial base into those existing industrial bases is very important.

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Kimberley floods may have left hundreds homeless in region with longstanding housing crisis

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An estimated 100 homes are feared uninhabitable in WA communities where it’s not uncommon to have up to 20 people living in a house

Massive flooding in Western Australia may have left hundreds of people homeless, bringing the region’s pre-existing overcrowding crisis into sharp relief, local residents say.

An estimated 100 homes across the Kimberley were feared uninhabitable in the wake of ex-tropical cyclone Ellie, according to Tyronne Garstone, the chief executive of Kimberley Land Council, the peak Indigenous body in the Kimberley region. And with many people in the area living in multigenerational homes or with extended family, the extent of potential homelessness is immense, he said.

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Concerns over use of ‘cheap and easy’ offsets – as it happened

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More than 80% of council areas declared disasters in the past four years, Watt says

Murray Watt was hesitant to attribute the individual disaster in the Kimberley to climate change, unlike his colleague Chris Bowen. But he said the overall pattern of increasing disasters was “undoubtedly climate change”:

I don’t think that you can point to one particular event and say it’s due to climate change, but there is no doubt that we are seeing before our eyes is climate change happening. We know from all the scientists that we’re going to be facing more of these intense events more frequently.

I was actually advised yesterday by our agency that just in the last 12 months we’ve seen 316 of Australia’s 537 council areas disaster-declared: that’s about 60% of the council areas in the country. And if you go back four years to the black summer, 438 council areas in Australia have been disaster-declared, which is over 80%.

A lot of people aren’t aware but the wet season in northern Western Australia … generally doesn’t begin until later this month. So their wettest months actually tend to be February and March rather than starting as early as January. So to have this amount of water come through the system this early in the wet season is a concern.

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Engineers to assess flood-damaged bridges on key WA route amid concerns some could take years to fix

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Fitzroy River Bridge among those apparently collapsed after record flooding in state’s north destroys roads and isolates communities

Engineers will assess the destruction of major bridges on the trucking route connecting Western Australia and the Northern Territory on Wednesday amid concerns key infrastructure could could take months, or even years, to fix.

Main Roads WA and structural engineers will assess the Fitzroy River Bridge on the Great Northern Highway, as photos and videos emerge showing that the bridge has collapsed after being hit with record floods.

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Australia live news update: fifth child airlifted to hospital with irukandji jellyfish sting; Albanese and Dutton trade insults over Indigenous voice

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Federal opposition leader wants Labor to legislate its preferred model before referendum is held this year. This blog is now closed

‘I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation’

Peter Dutton is asked about whether the prime minister has been given a copy of his letter – Anthony Albanese has said he has not received it – and Dutton says a copy has been provided to the prime minister’s office and he expects “he will respond in due course”.

I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Certainly not racist. It’s not being opposed to reconciliation. It’s all about, frankly, just being informed about what it is they’re being asked to vote on. I don’t think that is unreasonable to ask the prime minister to provide that.

I’ve met with the prime minister and I’m grateful for the meetings that we’ve had and he knows that I’m genuinely interested in advancing the cause of reconciliation.

I’m speaking of millions of Australians, we’re asking you the reasonable questions.

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Western Australia’s ‘worst’ flood reveals vulnerability of supply chains as 100 residents airlifted out

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Experts call for a multidisciplinary approach, with climate-related disasters to continue disrupting freight delivery

Western Australia’s “worst ever” flood has further highlighted the vulnerability of Australia’s supply chains, experts say.

On Saturday, record levels of water were pouring down the Fitzroy River, which had created a 50km-wide inland sea. The water across the Kimberley region had shut down parts of the crucial Great Northern Highway, damaged the bridge at Fitzroy Crossing and inundated the airstrip. And 105 people had been relocated from the region, with more expected to be airlifted out in the coming days.

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ADF airlifts food to Western Australia areas hit by floods – as it happened

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Australian Defence Force planes now able to use the airstrip at Fitzroy Crossing as weather improves. This blog is now closed

“Bonza the bogan airline” sounds like a crap children’s book, but it’s an interesting story about another moving part in Australia’s turbulent air transport industry. Also, Elias Visontay managed to get budgie smugglers into it, making the skimpy swimwear somewhat of a sub theme on the blog today:

Waters at Menindee expected to peak

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Floods force road trains supplying Kimberley to detour extra 7,400km via SA and NT

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Trucks normally travel direct from Perth to Fitzroy Crossing but new return trip halfway across Australia is ‘equal to a one-way trip from Paris to Vladivostok’

Triple road trains delivering essential supplies to Western Australia’s flood-stricken Kimberley communities face week-long 12,000km return trips from Perth as they are forced to detour halfway across the country due to washed-out roads and bridges.

Instead of travelling directly from Perth to the Kimberley region – a 4,600km return trip – trucks will be forced east to Port Augusta in South Australia, before travelling the length of Australia to Katherine in the Northern Territory, then heading back west to WA.

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Broome isolated by WA floods which could cut off remote Indigenous communities for weeks

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Ex-tropical Cyclone Ellie brings once-in-a-century flooding, forcing evacuations and road closures

Towns are cut off and residents have been evacuated in military planes during “the worst flooding Western Australia has ever seen”.

Authorities are working to let remote Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley region know of the danger, to relocate those who want to leave and deliver critical supplies. Derby, Broome and Noonkanbah have already been isolated.

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Lifesavers rescue 1,200 over holiday period in Australia – as it happened

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‘Challenging night’ for WA fire crews in south-west

Earlier today, Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services incident controller Peter Thomas said it had been a “challenging night” for fire crews in the south-west, as bushfires threaten the region.

So our volunteers from the Donnybrook area across the south-west [who have] come to deal with this incident.

We’ve had some strong winds that have been coming consistently from the east, but been fairly strong and making it challenging for our crews.

When we allow sportspeople from Russia to participate in the Australian Open, we do exactly what Putin wants.

It doesn’t matter what flag Russian Federation players compete under. It has Ukrainian blood on it.

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Unprecedented amount of water moving down Fitzroy River in Kimberley – as it happened

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Record flooding in Western Australian region forces evacuations. This blog is now closed

People battling floods in South Australia and now the Kimberley in Western Australia will be among those glad to see a shift back to more typical rainfall patterns.

As it happens, that sort of shift in climate influences looks to be under way, particularly as the La Niña in the Pacific continues to weaken.

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Fears for remote WA towns as Fitzroy River records one of highest flow rates in Australia

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Amount of water surging down river in one day equivalent to what Perth uses in 20 years, Bureau of Meteorology says

Kimberley residents are worried they could run out of food and fuel as a once-in-a-century flood isolates remote towns in Western Australia’s far north, with authorities saying the Fitzroy River is experiencing “one of the highest flow rates ever seen” in Australia.

Fitzroy Crossing, Broome and other towns were expected to be cut off as the waters rose.

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WA government declares emergency as record flood hits Kimberley

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Fitzroy River expected to peak 1.5 metres higher than previous record as ex-tropical Cyclone Ellie brings heavy rain and damaging winds across the region

A record flood has hit Western Australia’s Kimberley region as ex-tropical Cyclone Ellie passes through the region.

The Fitzroy River was above 15 metres on Tuesday morning and was projected to reach 15.6 metres on Tuesday night – 1.5 metres higher than the previous record.

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Advocates call for urgent action after two ‘incredibly tragic’ Aboriginal deaths in custody

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Linda Burney says rates of Indigenous incarceration and deaths in custody 30 years after royal commission are a ‘national shame’

Advocates say the “heartbreaking” deaths of two Aboriginal people in custody within days of each other in Western Australia over Christmas should jolt state and federal governments into urgent action.

A 41-year-old First Nations woman died in a Perth hospital on Christmas Eve after suffering a “medical episode” in Wandoo rehabilitation prison 13 days earlier.

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Missing since Christmas: three WA children survive car crash that killed parents

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The children, aged five, two and two months, were found alive at the crash scene near their Kondinin home

A couple who went missing with their three young children on Christmas Day has been found dead after their car crashed in country Western Australia, police have confirmed.

Their children, aged five, two and two months old, were found alive at the scene of the crash. The two-month-old baby has suffered serious injuries, police say.

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Southern parts of Australia swelter through summer’s first heatwave

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Adelaide stayed at 27.4C overnight while Victoria is forecast to dip no lower than 26C, the state’s hottest night in four years

Adelaide has sweated through a 38C morning as millions of people in the country’s south endure the peak of a summer heatwave.

Heatwave warnings were issued for South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and isolated parts of Western Australia with temperatures 8C to 16C above average.

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Surf lifesavers warn of another deadly summer after two drown on Christmas Day

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With reports of surf lifesaving rescues up in some states, there are fears of a repeat of last summer, when 145 people drowned

Australians are being urged to be safe in the water this week, as the country enters the most dangerous time of the year for fatal drownings.

Two swimmers drowned on Christmas Day – a 36-year-old man in Sydney and a 19-year-old in Lorne in Victoria – and police divers in Western Australia are searching Black Diamond Lake near Collie in the state’s south-west after a 30-year-old man did not return from a swim.

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