As it happened: WA news on Thursday, November 14

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We’re bringing our live blog to a close for today.

Making headlines today, we spoke to several amazing young people who are completing their ATAR early, showing us how talent and hard work can pay off ahead of time. 

Perth man Andre Rebelo, accused of murdering his mother just days after taking out more than $1 million worth of life insurance in her name, claimed he kept his pursuit of the funds secret to shield his grieving siblings from the fact she may have taken her own life. See our court coverage of the case here. 

And we spoke with the amazing Bridget Grocke, who is about to turn 110. Her sense of humour remains as a testament to all the hardened battlers of her generation.

Guess what her favourite drink is?Credit: Ross Swanborough

Scroll back to read more from the day’s news.

Thank you again for staying with us, come back tomorrow for more news you need to know.

We’re sitting in on question time in state parliament now, where Sports and Recreation Minister David Templeman has been forced to withdraw his comments after calling deputy opposition leader Peter Rundle “wokey-boy”.

The pair got into a verbal scuffle following questions from Rundle over the development of East Fremantle Oval, which has been mired by clashes between the local council and the East Fremantle Sharks football club over a services agreement, the use of a boardroom, and the lack of a fence around the grounds.

Rundle queried why the state government hadn’t gotten more involved.

“Here’s a member who says he supports local government’s autonomy, and then when he doesn’t agree with how they might have handled an issue, that they’re woke, and they’re pathetic and that I should intervene,” Templeman said in his lengthy and animated reply.

He continued for several minutes before Rundle tried to interject.

“No, no, no, no, no wokey-boy, you just sit there wokey-boy,” Templeman said, before stating, with some mirth: “Oh no, I’m going to get in trouble now, aren’t I?”

He was asked to apologise and withdraw his comments.

“This is becoming a habit,” he replied, likely referring to a previous incident regarding comments he made about Albany Liberal candidate Thomas Brough.

“Thank goodness my term is coming to an end.”

We suppose now would be a good time to point you towards state political reporter Hamish Hastie’s article, published earlier this week, which examined the conduct of our elected members during question time following Labor’s crushing 2021 election win.

Have a read of it here.

The state’s unemployment rate crept up to 4 per cent in October for the first time in six months.

Western Australia has been leading the pack as the state with the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

But according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics seasonally adjusted data released today, Queensland has taken the lead with an unemployment rate of 3.9 per cent.

Unemployment has crept up in WA.Credit: Duncan Wright

In terms of numbers, the number of people in work in WA dropped by 1100 people from 1,619,500 in September to 1,618,400 in October, a stark difference from the 8000 increase from August to September, when unemployment fell to just 3.6 per cent.

Across Australia, the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 per cent for the third month in a row with total employment rising by around 16,000 people offset by the rise of unemployed by about 8000.

The number of unemployed people around the nation in October was 67,000 higher than the same time a year ago, but was still 82,000 people lower than in March 2020, when unemployment hit 5.2 per cent.

ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said employment growth was slowing, with only a 0.1 per cent increase in October.

“This was lower than each of the previous six months, when employment rose by an average of 0.3 per cent per month,” he said.

The latest radio ratings survey is out today, once again crowning Nova 93.7’s Nathan, Nat and Shaun breakfast show the king of its timeslot, while 96FM was Perth’s overall most popular station, commanding a 14.2 per cent audience share.

But it was a bruising result for rock ‘n’ rollers Triple M, which took a 1.8 per centage point hit to drop to 9.3 per cent audience share – the biggest drop of all stations in the survey.

Nathan, Nat and Shaun are dominating.

ABC Perth also felt some pain, with listeners tuning out of its breakfast, morning and afternoon shows, while its drive show, currently helmed by Jo Trilling, saw a 0.1 per centage point lift.

Radio 6PR – owned by Nine Entertainment, which also owns this masthead – saw a lift to command a 7.7 per cent audience share.

However, the station’s Mornings host, Perth media veteran Gary Adshead, is set to leave the station at the end of the year to head to the ABC, where he’s tipped to take over from Trilling in drive.

Mix 94.5’s breakfast show was the next most-popular show behind 93.7 – but the gulf is a wide one, 12.4 per cent to 16.3 per cent, respectively – while 96FM ruled the morning timeslot with a 16.6 per cent share.

To police news now, and detectives have made a breakthrough in a 26-year-old cold case, charging a man over an armed robbery in Safety Bay in 1998.

On March 3, 1998, police allege four men entered a post office in the southern Rockingham suburb with their faces covered and brandishing shotguns, a knife and a baseball bat.

The men allegedly forced workers into the rear office and demanded that the safe be opened, stole cash and fled to a carpark, where they threatened more members of the public, stole a car and drove off.

Now, 26 years on, police have charged a 54-year-old Pingelly man with one count of aggravated armed robbery and two counts of stealing a motor vehicle.

The man will next appear before Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday, December 11.

Detectives are continuing to investigate and have urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

Turning now to some news that has shocked parents at a private school in Perth’s southern suburbs.

South Coast Baptist College is the only school in the state with a dedicated gymnastics program with between 60 and 70 students taking part.

The school brings in qualified coaches, and in May last year opened a new state-of-the-art gymnastics centre.

Nicki, the mother of one of the gymnastics students, told Gary Adshead on 6PR’s Mornings program that her son got to school as early as 6.30am to train for several hours before regular classes, which she said had helped with concentration and building his confidence.

But last week she received an email from the school to say that due to financial constraints, they couldn’t keep the program running.

“No one was consulted at all, and I think that’s been the shock, because we’ve got kids in this program that are hoping, and have got real opportunities, to be in the next Olympics,” Nicki said.

Parent outcry has resulted in the school promising to suspend any decisions until meeting with families at the end of January.

The first western derby between Fremantle and the Eagles will be a Sunday showdown – one of many under the AFL fixtures released today.

WA teams will host five of nine Sunday night games – all due to start at 6.10pm or later on the east coast – as the AFL and Seven look to take advantage of long weekends to boost the timeslot.

Footy fans in the west won’t be able to see their teams play at home on a day other than Sunday until round six, when the Eagles play Essendon on Friday, April 18.

Fremantle and West Coast will play plenty of Sunday afternoon games under the 2025 AFL fixture, released on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images

Among the other Sunday night games scheduled for 2025 is an Easter Sunday game between the Western Bulldogs and Sydney at 7.20pm eastern time.

In WA, the first round will see a clash between West Coast and Gold Coast at Optus Stadium on Sunday, March 16, while the following week Fremantle will take on Sydney on Sunday, March 23.

Round three will see a Sunday derby clash at Optus Stadium, with bouncedown at 3.10pm WA time, and in round four Fremantle will host the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

Read more about the 2025 fixtures here.

Sad news from our courts, where a 39-year-old woman has been fined and banned from owning pets for five years after facing animal cruelty charges.

The Redcliffe woman was charged after City of Belmont ranger found her Rottweiler puppy with a deep wound from his collar, which was too tight, leading to an open and pus-filled laceration.

The ranger’s discovery led to the intervention of RSPCA WA, and an inspector attended the property, but the woman refused to let them examine the 14-week-old dog.

The inspector returned with a warrant and seized the Rottweiler – named Fluffy – before taking him to an emergency vet for treatment, where it was discovered the collar was so small and constricting it had started to embed in the pup’s neck.

Fluffy underwent emergency surgery, and it was found he had severe cellulitis, an infection, and a fever. He has since made a full recovery in foster care.

The 39-year-old Redcliffe woman was sentenced on Friday, with Magistrate Sara Wisbey noting the incident was “not a single isolated act, but a behaviour amounting to a course of conduct”.

“It would have been clear to anyone that this puppy was suffering from a serious injury and required treatment,” she said.

The woman was fined $5000 and cannot own an animal for five years. She must also pay $4,529 in legal and other costs.

Some good news for commuters in Perth’s north: the city’s newest smart freeway is now complete.

It will no doubt come as a relief for drivers who have dealt with traffic delays and diversions to and from work for the better part of 18 months.

Perth’s glorious Mitchell Freeway.Credit: Getty

The construction along the Mitchell Freeway southbound cost $209.6 million of state and federal government funds, with an additional $214 million spent on widening the road between Hodges Drive and Hepburn Avenue.

The freeway expected to open at the end of December following some testing.

The upgrade included new traffic signals on all 16 on-ramps, 23 overhead gantries with lane-use and variable-speed signs, and digital message signs to inform motorists of traffic conditions in real time.

The estimated 60,000 motorists who use the stretch of road each morning can expect to shave seven minutes off their daily drive. The 190,000 who use the road each day will also save some time on their journey.

Read more about the new smart freeway here.

To breaking news now, and in a welcome update for travellers (or unwelcome, if you didn’t mind being stuck on an island paradise for a few more days) Qantas has announced it will resume flights from Bali to Australia today.

A statement from the company said conditions had improved, allowing Jetstar and Qantas flights to resume. There are plans to operate more recovery flights to clear the backlog of customers stranded by cancellations in recent days, the statement said.

Six return Jetstar flights and three Qantas flights from Australia will fly to Bali today, including some recovery flights.

“This is an evolving situation, and we recommend customers to check their flight status at Jetstar.com and Qantas.com before coming to the airport,” the company statement said.