Category Archives: Western Australia

Watchdog clears Pauline Hanson’s use of taxpayer funds to attend Gina Rinehart’s birthday party

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Hanson’s office cites meetings with industry representatives and a One Nation party executive who later changed his name to Aussie Trump

Parliament’s expenses watchdog has cleared Pauline Hanson over using taxpayer funds to attend Gina Rinehart’s birthday party, after an eight-month investigation in which Hanson explained she had travelled to Perth to meet a new One Nation MP who later changed his name to “Aussie Trump”.

Hanson’s office told the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (Ipea) she held meetings with Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting over environmental legislation during the March 2024 trip, as well as attending the same birthday party and celebration which former opposition leader Peter Dutton reportedly visited for just an hour.

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‘Dreadful wrongs’: WA governor apologises to Noongar people for 1834 Pinjarra massacre

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Between 15 and 80 Binjareb Noongar people were killed in the massacre which was led by the then WA governor, James Stirling

Warning: This article contains historical records that use racist and offensive language, and descriptions of events that will be distressing to some readers. It also contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died

Almost 200 years ago, a state governor led a massacre of at least 15 Aboriginal people.

On Tuesday, Western Australia’s current governor, Chris Dawson, went to the massacre site, south of Perth, with a different intent.

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‘Baudin’s or bauxite?’ Stark warning black cockatoo won’t survive mining expansion

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BirdLife WA calls consequences of Alcoa’s proposals to clear 11,000ha of jarrah forest ‘irreversible and catastrophic’ for endangered bird

The destruction of Western Australia’s northern jarrah forests for bauxite mining will push a threatened black cockatoo “to and beyond the brink of extinction” if governments allowed it to continue, conservationists have warned.

Mark Henryon, a volunteer with Birdlife Western Australia, said there was a clear choice that would decide whether the endangered Baudin’s black cockatoo would survive. “Baudin’s or bauxite – we can’t have both,” he said.

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Clive Palmer ordered to pay $13m after claim of being ‘foreign investor’ in Australian mining project thrown out

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Attorney general says mining magnate is ‘not a foreign investor’ and is ‘not entitled to any benefits under Australia’s free trade and investment agreements’

The Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer has been ordered to pay more than $13m after his claim of being a “foreign investor” was dismissed by an international tribunal after a dispute lasting more than a decade.

The permanent court of arbitration, established by international treaties, rejected Palmer’s claim as it had no jurisdiction over the dispute between a national government and one of its citizens, the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said on Saturday.

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‘Incompetent’: SA premier slams Optus as eight-week-old baby among three who died when triple zero calls failed

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Peter Malinauskas criticised the telco for its communications after two people in South Australia and one in Western Australia died during the network upgrade

The South Australian premier has said he’s never witnessed “such incompetence” from an Australian communications company after an eight-week-old baby was among three people who died during a botched Optus network upgrade.

Optus chief executive Stephen Rue admitted on Friday that the upgrade, which prevented people from making triple-zero calls the day before, impacted up to 600 households in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

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$12bn downpayment on WA shipyard to help prepare it for Aukus submarine era

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Henderson defence precinct to be used to build surface vessels and maintain submarines

The federal government is making a $12bn “downpayment” on a shipbuilding facility in Western Australia to prepare it for future nuclear-powered submarines.

The Henderson defence precinct will cost $25bn over a decade and will be used to build surface vessels and to dock and sustain submarines including those to be delivered under the Aukus agreement.

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WA museum tells staff ‘almost all of us are guilty’ of burning fossil fuels in email defending Woodside partnership

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Exclusive: Climate advocates reject CEO’s claim he is ‘not qualified’ to comment on risks of gas firm’s plan to extend production to 2070

The head of the Western Australian Museum has told staff that burning fossil fuels is something “almost all of us are guilty of in one way or another” in an email defending the institution’s renewed research partnership with Woodside.

The museum’s chief executive, Alec Coles, sent the email to staff before a Woodside-sponsored August open day at the Maritime Museum – one of WA Museum’s seven locations. It came amid public criticism of the extension of the “longstanding collaboration”, in which the gas company supports the museum’s biodiversity research along the WA coastline.

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Brittany Higgins ordered to pay almost $350,000 in defamation damages to Linda Reynolds

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Former defence minister’s reputation was damaged by social media posts by her former staffer, judge rules

Linda Reynolds has won her defamation case against Brittany Higgins in the Western Australian supreme court, marking the end of a protracted legal battle with her former staffer.

The state supreme court judge Paul Tottle ruled on Wednesday that the former defence minister’s reputation was damaged by social media posts published by Higgins in July 2023.

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Murray Watt advised by own department to declare protection order over ‘significant Aboriginal area’ in WA

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Exclusive: Environment department document states that Burrup peninsula site near Woodside gas plant ‘under threat of injury or desecration’

The environment minister, Murray Watt, has been advised by his department to declare a protection order over part of the Burrup peninsula in Western Australia due to its significance as an Aboriginal site, a government affidavit filed in the federal court shows.

A Murujuga traditional custodian, Raelene Cooper, applied in 2022 to protect the area’s cultural heritage from nearby industrial activities, including Woodside’s planned extension of its North West Shelf processing plant.

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Woman charged with concealing birth of deceased child after infant’s body found in WA drain

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The infant’s mother, in her 30s, had been assisting police with enquiries since Wednesday

A woman has been charged with concealing the birth of a deceased child after the body of a baby boy was found in a storm water drain in Perth.

The woman, in her 30s, had been assisting police with enquiries since Wednesday following the discovery of the infant on Monday afternoon.

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Woman assisting police after infant found dead in Perth storm water drain

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Police say woman in her 30s ‘receiving appropriate care and support’ after workers made confronting discovery on Monday

A woman is assisting police after a baby boy was found dead inside a storm water drain.

Two workers carrying out routine maintenance made the confronting discovery in Alexander Heights in Perth’s northern suburbs on Monday afternoon.

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WA government put ‘very rosy spin’ on report into Woodside emissions at Murujuga, scientist’s private email says

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Report part of a project used in lobbying effort to dismiss UN concerns that industrial emissions were damaging 50,000-year-old ancient rock art

The Western Australia government “put a very rosy spin” on a summary report of a project checking if pollutants from Woodside were damaging 50,000-year-old rock art, according to a private email sent by the lead scientist.

In an email released to the ABC, Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Project lead scientist Prof Ben Mullins, of Curtin University, said the WA government had “insisted” on writing the summary report, despite a contract saying that Curtin should write it.

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NSW daily rainfall could ‘nudge triple figures’ with wet weather forecast to intensify

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Flood concerns along east coast and severe weather warning for west coast amid national cold snap

Daily rainfall in parts of New South Wales could hit triple figures this week, as Australia’s east and west coasts brace for more wet and cold weather.

Several places along the NSW coastline saw rainfall of more than 50mm overnight into Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, which warned that the wet weather would persist and intensify on Wednesday and Thursday.

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Newborn baby found dead in Perth storm water drain placed there in recent days, police say

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WA premier describes ‘horrifying scenario’ after workers found child’s body while cleaning drain on Monday

A newborn baby boy found dead in a suburban storm water drain was placed there in recent days before being discovered, police have said.

The horrifying discovery of the infant’s body was made in Alexander Heights in Perth’s north on Monday afternoon.

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Dead infant found in Perth stormwater drain

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Police said multiple resources were deployed to Alexander Heights after they received reports about 1pm

The body of a dead infant has been found in a stormwater drain in Perth, Western Australia police have confirmed.

Police said multiple resources were deployed to the suburb of Alexander Heights after they received reports about 1pm on Monday.

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Rain and storms forecast for much of Australia’s east coast for every day next week

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Meteorologist says while there is disagreement over how much rain will fall, the general consensus is NSW and Queensland will have another wet week

For Australia’s east coast, the wet weeks are dragging on with no immediate reprieve in sight.

“I know people in Sydney and other parts of New South Wales will be sick of hearing this,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines told the ABC on Saturday. “But it will be another wet week across the eastern coastline, all the way from the Illawarra through New South Wales, through Sydney, Newcastle, through Brisbane up to the Wide Bay in Queensland”.

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WA Museum partnership with Woodside criticised as record-breaking marine heatwave decimates coral reefs

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A report finding 75% of coral is bleached or dead along a 1,500km stretch of WA coastline is released as fossil fuel giant inks partnership extension

The WA Greens and the state’s peak conservation body have condemned the extension of a research partnership between the Western Australian Museum and Woodside, as the state reels from a record-breaking marine heatwave that has killed corals over a 1,500km stretch of ocean.

The five-year continuation of the “longstanding collaboration”, in which the gas giant supports the museum’s biodiversity research along the WA coastline, would allow for further targeted research along the Gascoyne coast, according to announcements.

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WA’s ‘longest and most intense’ marine heatwave killed coral across 1,500km stretch

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Scientists shocked by bleaching event that hit reefs from the world heritage-listed Ningaloo to the remote Ashmore Reef

The “longest, largest and most intense” marine heatwave ever recorded in Western Australia has killed coral throughout an area that stretches 1,500km, according to state and federal scientists.

More than 100 scientists and marine managers will gather in Perth on Tuesday for a special meeting to discuss the devastating event that bleached and killed corals on remote reefs earlier this year.

The marine heatwave that hit reefs from the world heritage-listed Ningaloo to the remote Ashmore Reef left many scientists shocked.

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German backpacker who went missing in WA outback says she got lost after hitting head in car crash

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Carolina Wilga says she spent 11 nights in outback after leaving van in ‘state of confusion’

Carolina Wilga hit her head in a car crash and left her vehicle in a “state of confusion” before going missing in the Western Australian outback for 11 nights, the German backpacker has revealed.

In the 26-year-old’s first statement since flagging down a local woman, Tania, in a passing car on Friday afternoon, Wilga explained the series of events that led to her disappearance.

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‘Sheer luck’: how German backpacker Carolina Wilga was found after 11 nights lost in dense Australian outback

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With minimal food and water, the 26-year-old drank from puddles, sheltered in a cave and used the sun for navigation

Carolina Wilga spent 11 freezing nights lost in the Western Australian outback, convinced she would never be found.

By “sheer luck” the confused and disoriented German backpacker came across a road, where she flagged down a woman in a passing car on Friday afternoon.

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