As it happened: WA news on Monday, March 24

We’re bringing our blog to a close for the day, thank you for tuning in.

In case you missed them, here’s a recap of some of the headlines we covered:

• A woman has died after being hit by a Transperth bus in East Perth on Sunday night.

• A fire that came dangerously close to homes in yesterday is being treated as suspicious.

• A spearfisher who was bitten by a two-metre bronze whaler off Exmouth yesterday is expected to be flown to Perth today for medical treatment.

• The political aspirations for Fremantle independent Kate Hulett are not over, with the business owner announcing plans to run in the upcoming federal election.

• Perth’s stamp duty exemption threshold will increase from $450,000 to $500,000 as the state government today announced it would make good on its election commitment.

• Treasurer Rita Saffioti has apologised for the transport chaos on the Transperth rail network on Sunday which caused some Dockers fans to miss the first few minutes of the match.
• Nationals leader Shane Love has confirmed he has been reappointed leader by his new team, which has grown to six lower house members and two upper house members.

• The west coast’s reign as the most affordable capital city for new land is over with new figures showing prices increased 34 per cent in 2024.

• The AFL match review panel has issued West Coast with a ‘please explain’ over young star Harley Reid’s rude gesture to a Brisbane fan during Saturday’s game.

• A 28-year-old Perth woman has just been found not guilty of murdering her boyfriend, but guilty of his manslaughter.

Thank you again for joining us today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow for more news you need to know.

A former WA-based doctor who stole a colleague’s prescription pad and forged her signature had his tangled web of lies uncovered when he took his crimes interstate.

His conduct was revealed in court documents presented before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last week.

Dr Peter Whyte was working at a West Australian hospital in June 2020 when he stole the prescription pad from a colleague.

He then moved to Victoria in January 2021 and presented forged prescriptions he had written in his own name for self administration between March and May that year.

Many were dispensed, but a vigilant pharmacist queried a prescription for Panadeine Forte.

After noticing the same substance had been recently filled at a different pharmacy, the pharmacist checked with Whyte’s colleague, who said she had not written the script and recognised his handwriting.

That colleague and another medical practitioner from the WA hospital Whyte had worked at notified the Medical Board of Australia and the pharmacist alerted Victoria Police.

During a police search of Whyte’s home in Victoria, they found a range of substances, including some he obtained from the forged prescriptions, overseas or online.

A number of those medicines are known as Schedule 4 poisons and included a drug commonly used to treat and prevent hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and other pain medications.

Police also found an imitation firearm for which Whyte did not have an authorisation.

Thirty criminal charges followed and after pleading guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, Whyte was fined $2500 without criminal conviction.

Last week, VCAT reprimanded Whyte for his actions and disqualified him from reapplying for registration for 18 months.

AAP

To the Supreme Court of WA now, where a 28-year-old Perth woman has just been found not guilty of murdering her boyfriend, but has been found guilty of his manslaughter.

Lauren Vivian Brown has been on trial all month over allegations she deliberately stabbed James Sheehy in their apartment in Joondalup in September 2023.

Lauren Vivian Brown, pictured inset, faced a trial in the Supreme Court, accused of murdering her boyfriend.Credit: Nine News Perth

The trial heard evidence alleging Brown was verbally and physically abusive towards Sheehy, whom she had only met five months before his death, before launching into an angry rage over a phone call on the day he died.

Brown allegedly did not immediately call emergency services to help Sheehy as he lay unconscious in their apartment, instead running outside and calling neighbours for help.

She borrowed a phone to call police on a non-urgent number, but miscalled and couldn’t get through.

Brown will be sentenced at a later date.

The AFL match review panel has just issued West Coast with a ‘please explain’ over young star Harley Reid’s rude gesture to a Brisbane fan during Saturday’s game.

The league will also investigate the fan’s conduct.

Harley Reid gave the Brisbane crowd the finger.Credit: Fox Footy

Reid was involved in some off-ball banter during the game with members of the crowd, and raised his middle finger as he stood up to take a free kick.

The AFL has asked the Eagles for further context around the incident, with an outcome expected in the coming days.

The west coast’s reign as the most affordable capital city for new land is over with new figures showing prices increased 34 per cent in 2024.

The UDIA’s annual State of the Land Report shows the price for a plot of land in Perth now sits at $329,000 with Adelaide now the most affordable capital with a median lot price of $307,000.

Vacant land for sale along Perth’s northern coastal communities.Credit: Ross Swanborough

Chief executive Tanya Steinbeck said the significant increase in new land prices can be attributed to the ongoing housing supply shortage that is impacting the residential property market in WA.

“This is simple demand vs supply theory in practice,” she said.

“We have seen demand for housing in WA continue to escalate as our population increases, economic conditions remain strong and unemployment is low.”

Steinbeck said in response to the ongoing strength in demand for new housing, greenfield developers have put their foot on the accelerator, ramping up supply where possible.

Annual completions were up 24 per cent in Perth’s greenfield land market and house approvals are also up 47 per cent.

Perth’s hot autumn weather continues, with the mercury just hitting 39.5 degrees in the metro area.

It was even hotter at Perth Airport, which recorded a temperature of 40.3 degrees just now. Swan Valley and Pearce have also tipped over 40 degrees.

The average maximum temperature for March in Perth is usually 29.6 degrees.

This week, the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a top of 37 degrees on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, before the mercury drops slightly to 35 on Friday and 33 and 31 at the weekend.

Consecutive days of temperatures like this in the second-half of March haven’t been seen since 1985.

Nationals leader Shane Love has confirmed he has been reappointed leader by his new team, which has grown to six lower house members and two upper house members.

Nationals leader Shane Love with his newly elected MPs. Credit: Hamish Hastie

Member for Roe, Peter Rundle will be deputy leader.

However, it’s still yet to be decided if Love will stay on as opposition leader, with the Liberals and Nationals both currently holding six lower house seats each.

It’s likely the final seat to be declared in the March 8 election will fall to the Liberals, and pave the way for Churchlands MP Basil Zempilas to become the new leader of the opposition.

If it falls to Labor, the Liberals and Nationals will need to negotiate on who the leader will be.

“We’re looking forward to the next four years to ensure that in 2029, we see a change in government in this state,” Love said.

He also claimed the state government’s stamp duty exemption threshold announcement earlier today (increasing to properties up to $500,000) was “miserable”, and that, his party would have abolished it altogether for first homebuyers.

Final one from the Premier’s press conference: Roger Cook has responded to reports in Sydney publication The Daily Telegraph that there was a four-week deadline to reach a deal on establishing an NRL team in WA.

Premier Roger Cook this morning.Credit: Hamish Hastie

The Daily Telegraph reported on the existence of an economic benefit report conducted to look at how much cash would be injected to the state by bringing the Western Bears NRL team to Perth.

The report suggested a team would bring more than $50 million into the state annually through visitors, employment and sponsorship.

It also suggested the NRL had a four-week deadline for a deal to be struck because the league needed to work out how many teams would be playing from 2027 ahead of a new TV rights deal.

Asked about the deadline, Cook said it was not the deadline his government was working toward.

When pressed whether he would let the deal slide if the NRL stuck to this deadline and a deal wasn’t struck by next month Cook replied: “Yes”.

“Let me be absolutely clear, if this does not represent value for money for Western Australia, and does not represent value for money for West Australian taxpayers to whatever extent we’re expected to know, we will not proceed,” he said.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the NRL expansion to WA was subject of a “smear campaign” by Seven West Media which owns the TV rights to the AFL.

Sticking with the Premier’s press conference, Treasurer Rita Saffioti has apologised for the transport chaos on the Transperth rail network yesterday which caused some Dockers fans to miss the first few minutes of the match.

Chad Warner after Sydney’s win at Optus Stadium on Sunday. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

Saffioti said a small mechanical failure on a C-Series train caused issues in the Perth underground part of the network which resulted in delays across the network.

The C-Series trains are the first locally built trains on Perth’s network in decades but have been beset with issues since starting operations last year.

Saffioti would not expand on what the mechanical issue was, only that it was being looked at.

“I’m very proud of our WA trains, as I said, commissioning of any rail car, any new series, will always have some teething problems,” she said.

“This is a normal part of commissioning new railcars, and I’m very confident in our WA team delivering these rail cars.”

Perth’s stamp duty exemption threshold will increase from $450,000 to $500,000 as the state government today announced it would make good on its election commitment.

Premier Roger Cook said allowing the exemption for properties sold for less than $500,000 meant an additional 8000 buyers would save up to $18,000 by paying no stamp duty.

Thousands more were expected to partly benefit from the government increasing the concession threshold from $600,000 to $700,000.

Vacant land thresholds will also increase from $300,000 to $350,000.

To encourage new builds, off-the-plan apartment and townhouse buyers won’t have to pay stamp duty for dwellings up to $750,000.

The new thresholds will come into effect on March 21.

The median house price in Perth is $913,000, according to Domain.