Category Archives: Western Australia

Police find missing member of group who reached remote Western Australia coast by boat

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Search was conducted in difficult terrain near Mitchell Plateau as Coalition presses government over ‘third boat since November’

A man has been found in “relatively good condition” after becoming separated from a group of people who reached a remote pocket of the Kimberley coastline in Western Australia by boat.

A source confirmed to Guardian Australia that nine individuals had broached Australia’s mainland but did not confirm what nation they had arrived from.

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Cyclist killed and another injured in separate incidents in Indian Pacific Wheel Race

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Western Australia police appeal for information after second death in race after British ultra-endurance cyclist Mike Hall was hit and killed near Canberra in 2017

Tragedy has again befallen the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, with a cyclist dead and another in a serious condition in hospital after separate incidents along Western Australia’s remote Eyre Highway on Thursday morning.

The race sees participants ride solo and unsupported from Fremantle in Western Australia to the Sydney Opera House, covering 5,500 kilometres. It builds on a rich history of riders traversing Australia as early as the 1890s – considered to be the first “Overlanders”.

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WA floods: severe weather hampers search for seven people missing in remote Western Australia

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Road conditions are dangerous along the route the group is believed to have taken from Kalgoorlie to Tjuntjuntjara, police say

Severe weather is hampering search efforts for seven people who are missing amid ongoing flooding in remote Western Australia.

The group – which includes four children and two elderly drivers – left Kalgoorlie, about 600km east of Perth, on Sunday and were travelling in two vehicles north-east to the Tjuntjuntjara Aboriginal community.

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Bob Brown arrested at Tasmania logging protest – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Birmingham backs Dutton’s asylum boat comments

The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, was on ABC RN earlier this morning.

It is our responsibility to hold the government to account and if there are cuts to the Border Force budget, if there are reductions in terms of any aspects of maritime surveillance, if the Border Police Commissioner is saying that his resources are being stretched, then these are the things for us to absolutely call the government out on.

Vegetation clearing and repairs to damaged powerlines and poles continue. However, given the extent of the widespread damage, it may still take some days in extreme circumstances to restore electricity to all of those impacted.

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Albanese signs WA GST pledge on reporter’s arm and signals possible support for state’s nickel miners

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PM says federal government will make ‘no changes’ to Western Australia GST payments, which could hit $50bn over a decade

The federal government is considering “time-limited support” for the nickel industry in Western Australia as it faces growing international competition from Indonesian producers, Anthony Albanese has said.

The prime minister also pledged to maintain WA’s lucrative share of GST payments by signing a promise on a newspaper front page and on a reporter’s arm in marker pen, before encouraging the journalist to get it tattooed on his body.

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Asylum seekers taken to Nauru amid renewed political stoush over border arrivals

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Move comes after second group found in Western Australia and believed to have arrived on same boat as group found 25km away on Friday

More than 40 asylum seekers have been taken to Nauru after they were found in a remote part of Western Australia.

Guardian Australia has confirmed a second group of 13 asylum seekers was found at an Indigenous campsite at Pender Bay, about an hour after a group of 30 men were found at Beagle Bay on Friday.

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Vape stores clustered around schools and in the most disadvantaged suburbs, Australian study finds

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Almost nine out of 10 the shops are within walking distance of schools, WA audit discovers

Vape stores are concentrated around schools and in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, Australian researchers have shown for the first time in an audit of dedicated shops in Western Australia.

The study led by researchers from the University of Notre Dame Australia and published on Wednesday in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health found almost nine out of 10 vape stores were within walking distance of schools.

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War crime accused seeks bail change to fly across Australia

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Oliver Jordan Schulz, who is accused of murder over the shooting of a young Afghan, applied for his bail conditions to be loosened

A former SAS soldier and accused war criminal requires assessment by police checking in on him while on bail because his military training presents a physical danger, a court has heard.

Oliver Jordan Schulz, 42, is expected to be able to fly to Perth to visit his lawyers after a bail variation hearing at Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Monday.

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Amelia the most popular girls’ baby name in Victoria as Oliver tops boys’ list for tenth year in a row

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Traditional options standing the test of time in top 20 popular baby names for 2023

Names that have stood the test of time have prevailed again in the ranks of the most popular baby names in Victoria, with Amelia rising to be the most popular name for girls in 2023, and Oliver retaining the crown for boys for the tenth year in a row.

The name Amelia knocked Charlotte to second most popular after it held the title in recent years. It was followed by Olivia, Mia, and Isla, while new entrants to the top 20 most popular girls’ names were Harper, Evelyn and Sienna.

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WA police seize 30 tonnes of gold-bearing ore at back yard refinery allegedly linked to bikies

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Police charge 20 people with a total of 56 offences in three-day Kalgoorlie operation as part of crackdown on outlaw motorcycle gangs

Western Australian police say they have busted a backyard gold refinery in Kalgoorlie, seizing more than 30 tonnes of gold-bearing ore that was allegedly stolen from the region’s mines.

Investigators believe the alleged racket was connected with outlaw motorcycle gangs, and the gold-bearing ore was stolen with the intention of refining and laundering the gold to gain cash to purchase illicit drugs that would be sold to the community.

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Australia urged to quash convictions of all Indonesian children jailed as adult people smugglers

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Exclusive: Leader of successful class action says government should ‘step in to overturn the convictions’, amid calls for a formal apology

The Indonesian fisher who led the challenge against Australia’s unlawful detention of hundreds of children found on people-smuggling boats has urged the government to help quash all remaining convictions linked to the scandal.

The federal government relied on a deeply flawed age assessment technique – interpretations of wrist X-rays – to detain hundreds of Indonesian children found crewing people-smuggling boats in 2009 and the early 2010s.

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Storms and wet weather forecast for northern Australia with Cyclone Kirrily expected to develop off Queensland

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Heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding forecast across Kimberley, Northern Territory and much of Cape York peninsula

Northern Australia is battening down the hatches as the Bureau of Meteorology warns intensifying activity in the Coral Sea is likely to result in the formation of Cyclone Kirrily.

While the low-pressure system won’t be officially named until it is properly formed, the bureau expects the cyclone to develop off the Queensland coast by Monday.

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Linda Reynolds seeks advice on bid to freeze Brittany Higgins’ assets in France

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The former minister aims to apply order in France where her former staffer, whom she is suing for defamation, now lives

Linda Reynolds says she is awaiting advice on whether a bid to freeze Brittany Higgins’ assets could apply in France where the former Liberal staffer she is suing now lives.

The Western Australian senator is suing Higgins, and her partner David Sharaz, in the state’s supreme court over social media posts that contained a list of complaints against the former defence minister.

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Kalgoorlie faces a week without electricity amid heatwave due to WA power outages

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Businesses close, and water supply, internet and fuel affected as outback town swelters in temperatures forecast to hit 40C

Residents in Australia’s largest outback town, Kalgoorlie, are facing up to a week without power while sweltering through a major heatwave that has forced the closure of businesses and medical centres.

More than 20,000 homes and businesses began to face blackouts in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, Goldfields and Great Southern regions on Wednesday following severe storms and bushfires, including “most homes and businesses” in Kalgoorlie, according to WA police.

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Thousands of Western Australian households left without power after wild storm

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Heavy rain and winds hit central wheat belt, goldfields, south coastal and great southern districts shortly after BoM severe weather warning, leading to widespread power outage

About 15,000 households are without power in the south-western region of Western Australia after a thunderstorm tore through the area.

Western Power confirmed the number of homes without power had dropped from the 23,000 reported on Wednesday evening, but could not give a timeframe for power restoration.

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Threat of another cyclone looms for Queensland as heavy rain continues across Australia’s north

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Damaging weather and heavy rain pummels Darwin as BoM forecasts another cyclone could cross Queensland’s east coast from Tuesday

Queensland residents face the threat of another cyclone reaching their shores within days as intense rain continues across Australia’s north.

A tropical low building in the Coral Sea is expected to turn towards the coast from Sunday, with the system most likely becoming a tropical cyclone by Monday.

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Perth bushfires: lives and homes under threat as heatwave worsens blazes near Chittering

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Fire breaks out at RAAF base as firefighters battle four significant blazes in the Wanneroo and Chittering areas

A potentially dangerous fire has broken out at an RAAF base as soaring temperatures and windy conditions cause havoc for firefighters north of Perth.

The blaze broke out on Saturday afternoon near the entrance to RAAF base Gingin, a facility primarily used for pilot training, as large parts of the state faced heatwave warnings.

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Catholic bishop subject of Vatican investigation no longer in control of Broome charities

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Christopher Saunders, who has denied accusations he sexually assaulted young Aboriginal men, was responsible for nine charities

The Catholic bishop Christopher Saunders, who is accused of sexually assaulting and grooming young Aboriginal men, has been removed as the person responsible for nine Broome diocese charities, records show.

Saunders, who denies the accusations, which are alleged to have occurred during his almost five-decade career, stood aside as the bishop of Broome in 2020 and Pope Francis accepted his resignation in 2021. He is now described as “emeritus” bishop of Broome.

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Alcoa Kwinana alumina refinery shutdown will lead to hundreds of job cuts in resources minister’s electorate

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Madeleine King says she is ‘extremely disappointed’ while the opposition criticises Labor for ‘embarrassing failure’ on industry policy

The federal resources minister, Madeleine King, says she is “extremely disappointed” at the closure of a major alumina refinery in her electorate, with about 800 job losses expected, as the opposition criticises the government over what it has labelled “an embarrassing failure” on industry policy.

US alumina giant Alcoa announced on Tuesday it would close its 60-year-old refinery south of Perth, where hundreds of workers were expected to lose their jobs.

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Perth overtakes east coast to become Australia’s hottest capital city property market

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Buyers and renters compete for limited stock as the Western Australian capital favours sellers and landlords, CoreLogic analysts say

The Australian property boom has shifted from east to west, with buyers and renters tussling for a limited number of Perth homes and creating a housing crisis for those left behind.

Perth has become the hottest selling market among state capitals, with homes listed for a median 11 days before being sold, according to CoreLogic data calculated for Guardian Australia.

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