As it happened: WA news on Tuesday, July 15

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

As we leave you tonight, an update on a tragic story we’ve been covering since it broke yesterday afternoon.

A 31-year-old Perth woman has been charged with the murder of her seven-month-old baby.

Homicide squad detectives charged the woman on Tuesday afternoon after the baby was found with critical injuries at a Balcatta home in the early hours of Monday morning.

She’s due to appear in court on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, police have also laid charges against the alleged driver in a crash at a ‘street meet’ car event in Burswood on Monday night which left a teenage girl fighting for her life in hospital.

Here’s what also made headlines today:

• Rescued German backpacker, Carolina Wilga, has posted an update to her Instagram as she spends her fifth day in hospital since being rescued in the WA outback.

• Alicia Kemp, the 24-year-old who is accused of killing beloved dad Thanh Phan while allegedly riding an e-scooter in Perth’s CBD drunk and dangerously, has appeared in court via video link from prison.

• The UFC will return to Perth for a third time in as many years, with the date for the blockbuster event revealed today.

• Rio Tinto has selected a West Australian to lead the iron ore giant from August after the surprise departure of current chief executive Jakob Stausholm.

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

Trains have been cancelled between Fremantle station and Claremont station due to a “technical issue”.

Transperth took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the issue just after 2pm.

Train replacement buses are running.

“Please allow extra travelling time and be aware that replacement buses may not connect with timetabled bus and train services,” Transperth said.

Rio Tinto has selected a West Australian to lead the iron ore giant from August after the surprise departure of current chief executive Jakob Stausholm.

Simon Trott will be elevated from his current role as head of the company’s iron ore operations where he has been since 2021.

Simon Trott.Credit: Bloomberg

Before that Trott was the company’s chief commercial officer.

Trott, who was raised in WA’s Wheatbelt, will be the first Australian to lead the company since 2016 after the retirement of Sam Walsh.

“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to lead Rio Tinto, and I am excited about our future,” Trott said in a company statement to the ASX.

“The progress we have made over recent years gives us a foundation to build on with discipline and focus to deliver improved performance.

“With our outstanding assets and people around the world, we are well positioned to grow value for shareholders and the communities who host us.“

Trott also thanked Stausholm who announced he was leaving the company in May.

Stausholm said the company was in safe hands under Trott.

Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins was in Perth today revealing further details of what the government’s $139.7 million sheep live export transition package will pay for.

Regional communities and the Keep the Sheep campaign fought the Commonwealth’s 2028 live sheep export ban but after Labor’s huge win in WA, the government is pressing ahead.

Keep the Sheep protesters back in April. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Of the $139.7 million, $2.4 million will be set aside for financial counselling while another $2.2 million will be spent to help shearers find new employment and training.

A further $40 million will be spent on enhancing meat processing capacity in WA and $1.5 million on “community wellbeing support”.

About $30 million will be set aside to support farmers to transition their farms from live export.

“The assistance package announced today will ensure WA sheep farmers benefit from new markets and the ever-growing export opportunities before us,” Collins said.

It’s day two of Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s WA “listening tour” where she is meeting businesses across Perth to work out why the party had such a poor showing at May’s federal election.

Ley was in Forrestfield this morning at a training facility where she offered a frank assessment of how the party performed.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley. Credit: Hamish Hastie

“We got smashed at the last election, and I freely acknowledge that, and I accept the result, as do my team with humility because the Australian people get it right when they go to vote,” she said.

“What we were offering at the last election was not accepted, and we need, therefore, to take the time now to listen and to get it right.”

So after listening to West Australians for two days what actionable outcomes have come from it? Put simply, more listening.

“I will never assume that policies that work well in the eastern states can just be translated to the west, they can’t,” she said.

“So we need to be on the ground listening. I and my team commit to doing that, not just in the early stages of this term of Parliament, but ongoing.”

The UFC will return to Perth for a third time in as many years, with the date for the blockbuster event revealed today.

WA Premier Roger Cook confirmed the fight night would be held at RAC Arena on Sunday, September 28, 2025.

The UFC is returning to Perth for a third year. Credit: Getty Images

“We are so excited to see UFC come back to Western Australia for another year ... this is a major sporting event, and it’s one that people right around the globe all look to,” he said.

The UFC card is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Alicia Kemp, the 24-year-old who is accused of killing beloved dad Thanh Phan while allegedly riding an e-scooter in Perth’s CBD drunk and dangerously, has appeared in court from prison.

Kemp is alleged to have spent the afternoon drinking with a friend when the pair hired an e-scooter and allegedly rode tandem along footpaths before hitting Phan just after 8.30pm on May 31.

The force of the impact caused Phan to fall forward and hit his head. He died from a brain bleed three days later.

British backpacker Alicia Kemp is accused of riding an e-scooter while drunk before fatally crashing into a pedestrian in Perth’s CBD.Credit: TikTok

Kemp’s 26-year-old friend, who had allegedly been evicted from a bar due to intoxication before the crash, was riding on the back of the scooter and suffered a fractured skull and broken nose.

Kemp was initially charged with two charges of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm but later had one of the charges upgraded to dangerous driving causing death after 51-year-old Phan died.

Days later, Kemp applied for bail but was refused on the grounds that she was a flight risk with no ties to WA.

Kemp appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday via video link from Melaleuca Prison, with her matter adjourned to give her lawyer and prosecutors “time for negotiations”.

Before her appearance, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch spoke with Radio 6PR about the issue with e-scooter laws in the state and told waiting media he welcomed a state government committee to examine e-scooters.

“What that will allow, and obviously I will represent WA Police, it will allow experts, members of the community interest groups, to provide advice to government on what we should do with e-scooters in Western Australia,” he said.

“I think that’s an appropriate way to get the full spectrum of advice, so government can make a policy decision on escorts going forward.”

Kemp, who was travelling the world as part of a gap year after studying psychology and criminology at university in the UK, was remanded in custody and will be back before the courts on August 11.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch says the death of a baby at a home in Balcatta in the early hours of Monday morning is being treated as a family domestic violence homicide.

Emergency services were called to the Campion Avenue property about 3am on Monday, with a woman in her 30s taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital for treatment. Paramedics did not treat the baby at the scene.

Blanch said the woman had since been discharged from hospital, but remains in police custody.

Major crime investigators remained at the scene and the street remained cordoned off throughout the day.

Speaking to media on Tuesday, Blanch said the confronting scene would likely haunt first responders.

“There would be very few cases where you would have a crime scene of such a horrific nature for our officers and all first responders involved,” Blanch said.

“And certainly those officers would be entitled to their critical incident leave, but that’s something that will most likely haunt them for the rest of their careers.”

The commissioner said other family members were present, including another young person, and they had been exposed to “a trauma no one would ever recover from”.

Rescued German backpacker, Carolina Wilga, has posted an update to her Instagram as she spends her fifth day in hospital since being rescued in the WA outback.

She’s revealed she lost 12 kilograms during the 12-day ordeal.

Carolina Wilga is recovering in hospital.Credit: Instagram

Read Holly Thompson’s full article here.

A teenager has been struck by a car during a race meet in Burswood last night.

The girl was struck around 9.55pm on Camfield Drive, just outside Optus Stadium.

The Burswood crash scene. Credit: 9 News Perth

Mobile phone vision of the event shows two cars driving at speed down the road as dozens of bystanders gathered along each side of the strip. Moments later, one of the vehicles hits the woman, causing the front windscreen to smash.

The teen was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries.

The male driver is assisting police with their inquiries.

More to come.