Category Archives: Perth

Mineral Resources boss Chris Ellison tells shareholders ‘I hate what I’ve done’ after scandals rock company

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Perth businessman tells AGM he made ‘error in judgment’ as company’s executive pay plans are voted down

Embattled mining billionaire Chris Ellison has told shareholders he can’t stress enough “how much I hate what I’ve done” after a series of scandals engulfed the company he leads, Mineral Resources.

The Perth businessman has previously acknowledged he failed to disclose revenue generated by overseas entities to tax authorities earlier in his career. A company investigation later found he had also used business resources for his personal benefit.

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Australian goldminer to pay Mali $160m to free detained CEO and executives

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Group were held after a meeting about what mining firm referred to as unsubstantiated claims regarding taxes and levies

An Australian goldmining company has agreed to pay $160m ($A247m, £126m) to Mali’s government after the west African country’s junta detained its chief executive and two other employees.

Resolute Mining’s chief executive, Terence Holohan, and the other two employees were detained on 8 November in Mali’s capital, Bamako, at the end of a meeting with government officials over tax and other state claims that the miner had previously said were “unsubstantiated”.

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Perth airport runway undergoes emergency repairs after Qantas plane takeoff

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Video of QF71 taking off on Sunday shows parts of airport’s damaged main runway lifting up as plane accelerates

An accelerating Qantas plane has caused extensive damage to a Perth runway, forcing its closure and emergency repairs.

Video of Singapore-bound QF71’s takeoff at about midday on Sunday shows the plane increasing speed as a large part of Perth airport’s main runway lifts up behind the plane.

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Sky News’ Peta Credlin helped draft Brittany Higgins’ 2021 media statement, court told

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Lawyer for Linda Reynolds tells defamation trial Credlin was told ‘completely rework wherever you see fit’

The Sky News columnist and former chief of staff to Tony Abbott Peta Credlin helped draft Brittany Higgins’ statement given to media in 2021, after her rape allegations were made public, a court has been told.

In closing arguments to Western Australia’s supreme court, where Linda Reynolds is suing Higgins for defamation, Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett on Tuesday said Higgins had a “visceral hatred” towards her former employer and exaggerated how long she had to wait for counselling support following her rape allegations to “suit” her narrative.

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WA premier Roger Cook says murder of mother and daughter in Perth home ‘senseless’ and ‘chilling’

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Gunman shot Jennifer and Gretl Petelczyc, aged 59 and 18, at Floreat home where it’s believed his ex-wife was staying, before taking his own life

Western Australia’s premier says more needs to be done to combat domestic violence after the “chilling and horrific” murder of a mother and daughter by a gunman searching for his ex-wife, though police say they cannot classify it as a family violence matter.

Cook also said he would consider strengthening WA’s tough gun laws, which were recently updated and are in the process of passing through the parliament.

The gunman, 63, shot Jennifer Petelczyc, 59, and her 18-year-old daughter, Gretl, on Friday at their Floreat home, where his ex-wife was believed to have been staying, before taking his own life.

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Threats to school of Perth student who was shot by police dismissed as ‘hacking’

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Police have no concerns for safety, Rossmoyne senior high school principal says, after messages on an internal service threatening to ‘shoot up the school’ were investigated

Fresh threats to “shoot up the school” attended by the teenager who was shot dead by police in Perth on the weekend have been dismissed as a hacking incident, with the school insisting there was no threat to students.

The 16-year-old was fatally shot by police in a car park in Willetton on Saturday night after he stabbed a stranger in the back. The teenager, a white convert to Islam, was known to police and had been in a deredicalisation program for two years.

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Albanese heckled at Canberra rally to end violence against women – as it happened

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Dai Le says funding for domestic violence prevention more important than a royal commission

Asked about social media platform Twitter and Elon Musk’s claims that efforts to ensure a video of a stabbing of an Assyrian priest be taken down globally would constitute a threat to “free speech”, Dai Le says supports the government’s effort but has concerns about potential overreach:

Honestly, how can we not stop images of violence?

What I think government needs to do is to get the funding and target that to communities. Communities are experiencing high domestic violence. Getting it implemented … ,making sure that we don’t alienate one group from another [is important].

It’s just not something people can take. It is very emotional for people and me as a person who escaped Vietnam and being a child who ran from the war, it’s very traumatic for me and very traumatic for people in my community.

I think that everybody, from my understanding, would like a two-state solution.

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Cars submerged and shopping centre roof collapses as severe storm hits Perth

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About 50 calls to SES for assistance as ‘very localised’ storm reportedly dumped up to 130mm of rain in less than an hour

Parts of Perth broke a six-month-long dry spell on Friday with a fierce storm and flash flooding that left people stranded in submerged cars and caused part of a shopping centre roof to collapse.

A spokesperson for WA’s emergency services said SES volunteers had been going “flat out” to help fire crews with rescues. There had been about 50 calls for assistance over the course of the afternoon.

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Mediation talks between Linda Reynolds, Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz postponed

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Reynolds said she proposed a fortnight’s pause in the defamation case after ‘a tiring and difficult day’ of discussions on Tuesday

Mediation between Linda Reynolds, Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz is due to resume in coming weeks after initial talks failed, the supreme court of Western Australia has said.

Reynolds said she had proposed a fortnight’s pause in her defamation case after what she called a “a tiring and difficult day” of discussions on Tuesday. Higgins reportedly attended hospital after Tuesday’s proceedings, which lasted more than nine hours. A further conference scheduled for Wednesday was abandoned.

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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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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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Australian capital city rents up 13% over year as further hikes predicted for 2024 amid housing shortage

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Housing advocates call for urgent reform to address growing crisis as capital rents hit average of $600 a week

Australia’s record shortage of rental properties will continue to drive prices up for tenants, analysts say, with a new report revealing combined capital city rents rose 13.2% year-on-year.

Data from PropTrack, the property analytics division of REA Group, has revealed national rental prices rose 11.5% over the past year, with combined capital city rents up 13.2% to an average of $600 a week, driven by large increases in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

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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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WA police chief says cop who punched man during New Year’s Eve arrest did not use excessive force

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Commissioner Col Blanch says alleged offender appeared to be resisting arrest during incident at Perth pub

Western Australia’s top cop has backed a police officer filmed punching a man who was pinned to the ground outside a Perth pub during New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Video of the incident shows the officer repeatedly punching the 25-year-old man in the body as two other officers held him down during an arrest just after midnight on Sunday.

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New Year’s Eve 2023: heat and hail forecast in Australia’s weather mix as crowds gather early for fireworks

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Displays expected in cities across country to ring in 2024 while predicted wild weather on east coast could disrupt revelry

Heat and hail have been forecast across parts of the country as hundreds queue outside the Sydney Opera House to secure front-row seats for the New Year’s Eve fireworks.

Lines in Circular Quay began to form at 8am on Sunday as people sought to stake their claim to a view. By 11.24am, organisers announced the Sydney Opera House vantage point is full and advised members of the public to seek alternative options.

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Perth fire downgraded but extreme weather conditions expected for weekend

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Residents warned not to return to fire-affected area as bureau forecasts wind gusts of up to 80 km/h and 39C heat

Firefighters battling a blaze that has destroyed 18 homes in Perth’s outer northern suburbs will face extreme weather conditions across the weekend.

Wind gusts of up to 80 km/h and temperatures of 39C are forecast in Perth by the Bureau of Meteorology, with the fire danger also rated as extreme in parts of the city on Saturday.

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Perth fires: 18 homes destroyed as fire crews brace for more dangerous conditions

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Authorities say it will take at least another three to four days to bring blaze in city’s north-east under control

The number of homes an out-of-control bushfire has destroyed in metropolitan Perth has been revised up to 18, as firefighters prepare for a weekend of scorching temperatures.

The Western Australian premier, Roger Cook, returned from a trade mission to China on Friday and toured the fire grounds.

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Man found dead after statewide search – as it happened

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Hostage release essential if truce to last, Paterson says

Rewinding to Liberal MP James Paterson’s appearance on RN Breakfast this morning, wheN he said more needs to be done to free the hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza.

We don’t know how many of them are still alive, and their continued release would be essential for any continuing ceasefire because otherwise Israel continues to have a legitimate military objective.

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Murder charge over woman’s death in luxury hotel room at Crown Towers in Perth

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Homicide squad detectives have charged a 42-year-old man with murder after a woman in her 30s was found dead

A man has been charged with murder over the death of a woman whose body was found in a luxury hotel room in Perth’s casino precinct.

Emergency services were called to Crown Towers east of the Perth CBD about 11am on Monday, where the woman in her 30s was found dead.

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Australia news live: devastation revealed in Queensland bushfire aftermath

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There is ‘a lot of anxiety’ in the Western Downs where at least 16 houses have been destroyed, the mayor says. Follow the day’s news live

Civilians in the blockaded Gaza Strip will receive an extra $15m in humanitarian aid from the Australian government.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement at a joint press conference with US president Joe Biden.

The plaintiff served years in prison that he otherwise would not have. At no stage did Victoria Police take positive steps to remedy its wrongdoing by expeditiously informing the plaintiff of Gobbo’s conduct in order to quash his conviction. Victoria Police has not apologised to the plaintiff.

Starting this court case is a significant moment for me. I am anxious about the future but also cautiously optimistic about finally holding police to account for what they did to me.

In the pursuit of justice, vindication came first, and now I see compensation as a measure of accountability.

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