As it happened: WA news on Tuesday, February 4

That’s it for today, readers. Thank you for joining us.

Here are some of the headlines we covered today:

• The man who drowned at Bremer Bay while attempting to save two children from a rip last month has been identified as a father of three and former member of the Royal Australian Navy.

• Eighteen years after an armed robbery at a Southern River home offence, cold case detectives have used advances in forensic technology to charge a 54-year-old man.

• Perth’s median house sale price rose 1.4 per cent in January to $750,000, a heart-palpitating 23.0 per cent higher than January 2024, according to REIWA.

• A man in his 30s has been arrested after a serious alleged family violence incident left another man dead and a woman in hospital.

• As Matildas striker Sam Kerr fights to clear her name in court, Interim Australia coach Tom Sermanni says he expects the team’s captain to be back playing next month.

• Education pledges were the topic of the day for the state’s political parties ahead of next month’s election.
• West Coast premiership player Dom Sheed’s season is already in doubt after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during Monday’s training session.

Thanks again for tuning in, we’ll see you tomorrow for more news you need to know.

A visit from Australia’s “princess of pop” Kylie Minogue could throw a spanner in the works of the Perth Wildcats’ quest to add another National Basketball League trophy to their already overflowing cabinet.

And owner Mark Arena can’t get it out of his head.

The good news? The Wildcats currently sit third on the NBL ladder, and a win against the Adelaide 36ers in the last game of the season on Friday would mean they play the fourth-ranked team in a home final, likely to be on Tuesday, February 11.

Kylie Minogue and the Perth Wildcats face a scheduling clash at the Wildcats’ home ground, RAC Arena.Credit: Getty Images

The bad news? RAC Arena – the Wildcats’ home ground affectionately known as “the jungle” – is booked out that night.

Yep, one of Australia’s biggest pop stars is coming to town, and if it weren’t for the scheduling clash we’re sure thousands of Wildcats fans would be thrilled.

But as it stands, the Wildcats may be forced to host their home final at the Perth High-Performance Centre (formerly known as HBF Stadium and, before that, Challenge Stadium).

With a capacity of 4000, it’s less “the jungle” and more of a jungle gym.

On that crowd capacity: the Wildcats have a membership base of about 11,000, and previous home games this year have drawn numbers consistently around the 13,000 mark.

Wildcats owner Mark Arena said RAC Arena had “basically booked out the whole week”.

“It’s not a done deal but basically [Kylie’s] playing on Saturday night [February 15] and they’ve booked the whole week,” he said.

“RAC Arena in their infinite wisdom has decided, we’re going to book the whole of the first week of finals out at RAC Arena.

“I’m super frustrated with it, we’re supposed to be the anchor tenant there and I don’t feel like we’re being treated that way.”

A spokesperson for VenuesWest – the government body which manages RAC Arena and Perth HPC – said it was “working with its partners and hirers to accommodate an alternative venue to ensure the Wildcats can still play a potential home final”.

Well, to VenuesWest, we say: I believe in you. There’s no way to step back in time, but if the Wildcats make it to the finals, it would be magic, and all fans deserve to celebrate on a night like this.

Eagles fans, you may want to click away to something else at the moment. Or take a relaxing walk in the sun. Maybe get to work on that zen garden you’ve got planned for the backyard. Or you might just want to scream into the void.

Because the 2025 AFL season hasn’t even begun, and already West Coast are staring down a major injury to one of their star players.

Dom Sheed’s 2025 season could be over before it’s begun.Credit: Getty Images

The club announced on Tuesday afternoon that premiership player Dom Sheed – the man who broke Collingwood fans’ hearts with his goal in the dying minutes of the 2018 grand final – had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during Monday’s training session.

West Coast general manager of football Gavin Bell said the injuring came during an “innocuous incident”. Sheed is predicted to miss “an extended period of time”.

“It is extremely disappointing news for Dom after a wretched run with injuries over recent seasons, and I know our players, staff and entire Club will offer him their full support during his rehabilitation,” Bell said.

“We will take some time now to consult with Dom and medical experts about the next step, and we will provide a further update at the appropriate time.”

Freo face injury woes of their own

Meanwhile, star Fremantle recruit Shai Bolton is in doubt to feature in the AFL’s Indigenous All Stars match with a calf injury, while Hayden Young is a definite scratching.

Bolton injured his calf at training last week, with scans revealing a minor strain.

Fremantle say Bolton will be on lighter duties this week, before returning to training next week.

He has been listed as a “test” for the Indigenous All Stars clash with Fremantle at Optus Stadium on February 15.

Young will definitely miss the match after suffering a low-grade hamstring injury, which will also rule him out of Friday’s intra-club game.

The 23-year-old enjoyed a career-best campaign in 2024 in what was his first full year as a midfielder.

But his season ended on a sour note, with Young fracturing his leg in the club’s final match of the home-and-away campaign.

Young later revealed he wouldn’t have been able to feature in the finals if Fremantle had made it.

The absence of Young and potentially Bolton is a big blow to the clash between the Dockers and All Stars.

The match was set to pit Bolton - a two-time Richmond premiership player - up against his new Fremantle teammates.

Western Bulldogs defender Liam Jones will also miss out on appearing in the All Stars match after suffering a high-grade hamstring strain in the club’s match simulation over the weekend.

The 33-year-old has been ruled out for eight to 10 weeks.

with AAP

Today’s the day for education pledges it seems, with the Greens also announcing hundreds of millions of dollars for WA schools as part of their election pitch.

The headline promises are:

• An additional $230 million for the state education budget to fully fund schools in line with the School Resourcing Standard;
• reduce class size targets;
• replace voluntary fees with state funding to make sure families doing tough didn’t miss out;
• provide free lunches to students in WA public primary and high schools.

The party took aim at Liberal and Labor pledges to fully fund schools to the School Resourcing Standard by 2035, and remove a Morrison-era “accounting trick” allowing state governments to claim 4 per cent of their education budget for other payments.

“Our kids and teachers can’t afford to wait to see when Labor will finally fund our schools properly. WA deserves better,” Greens legislative council candidate and education spokeswoman Diane Evers said.

“This WA Labor government has had the largest parliamentary majority ever seen in Australian political history and six years of budget surpluses that are the envy of the nation - yet more than a decade after the Gonski review was delivered outlining the bare minimum our schools need, they still cannot fully fund public education in WA properly. This is an absolute disgrace.”

The party is also proposing $400 million a year to make free lunches available to all students at public schools, with the promise rooted in a 2023 report by the Joint Standing Committee on the Commissioner for Children and Young People, which found food insecurity was a policy choice with long-term impacts on children’s futures.

It would also commit $50 million per year needed to reduce class sizes in public schools by 2029, pre-primary classes to be capped at 24 students, years 4-10 to be capped at 27, and years 11-12 to come down to 24.

Back to the state election campaign now, where Liberal leader Libby Mettam has unveiled a $210 million strategy to address holes she says Labor had left in the education system.

The funding includes $127 million worth of upgraded infrastructure at WA schools across the state, including $15.6 million for the expansion of Applecross Senior High School – where she made the announcement in a press conference this afternoon.

Thirteen other commitments include a four-year school lunch program and food literacy trial as well as investigations into building two behaviour and engagement centres.

“It is about addressing Roger Cook’s cost of living pressures, and importantly, ensuring our children, regardless of background, have the best possible start in life when it comes to early childhood education and education more broadly in relation to truancy and violence in schools,” she said.

WA Liberals’ election pledge for state’s education system

1. $127m school infrastructure package
2. $8 million worth of grants for schools and kindys to upgrade nature playgrounds and sensory spaces
3. Expand Kindilink
4. Expand CaLDEYLink program for children from diverse backgrounds
5. Increase community kindergarten enrolments from 10 to 16
6. Expand YouthCARE principal chaplaincy program to the Pilbara and Kimberley
7. $500,000 for a business case to establish two new behaviour and engagement centres
8. Trial school support service program to tackle truancy issues
9. Increase boarding away from home allowance from $1424 to $3000
10. $8 million Country Week Assistance program
11. $5.2 million over four years for school lunch trail and food literacy education program
12. School-based speech pathology trial
13. 10 new child and parent centres
14. $250,000 over four years to ADHD WA

WA Premier and Kwinana MP Roger Cook is “disappointed” energy giant BP has put on ice about $1 billion worth of plans to establish a hydrogen and clean fuel hub at its old refinery in the Kwinana Industrial Area.

BP said yesterday it had “rephased” a planned biofuel and green hydrogen plant at the prime site, with energy news site Boiling Cold reporting some staff would be made redundant.

The planned hydrogen and sustainable fuel plans for BP’s former oil refinery site in Kwinana.

“We are obviously disappointed with the decision that they’re now taking their foot off the pedal, to a certain extent, while they can consider their financial position,” Cook told a press conference this morning.

“My government’s been working very closely with BP and will continue to do so. We believe those two projects at the old oil refinery site are important for Western Australia’s future.

“We still expect these projects to go forward, and they will go through forward with our blessing and our support.”

Turning to Perth Magistrates Court now, where new details have emerged about the foiled protest outside the home of Woodside boss Meg O’Neill, including the extraordinary police response and allegations an undercover officer pulled a gun on a protester days prior.

Jesse Noakes, 36, Gerard Mazza, 33, Matilda Lane-Rose, 20, and Emil Davey, 24, were arrested and charged in August 2023 after WA Police thwarted a plot to throw paint at O’Neill’s home in Perth’s affluent western suburbs and chain themselves to a gate to prevent her leaving in protest against the company’s mega gas project in the state’s north.

Matilda Lane-Rose, Jesse Noakes, Gerard Mazza and Emil Davey outside court on Tuesday.Credit: Jesinta Burton

The court was told as many as 10 officers swooped on the group as they arrived at the City Beach home shortly after 6.45am on August 1, 2023 – with the entire incident caught on camera by the crew of ABC’s flagship investigative program Four Corners.

The court heard the group had been captured on CCTV scoping out the premises three days before the planned protest and later purchased four litres of yellow paint and three cans of yellow spray paint.

All four defendants pleaded guilty to attempted trespass and attempted unlawful damage last month after having the more serious charge against them – conspiracy to comment an indictable offence – dropped.

O’Neill later took out violence restraining orders against all four defendants, branding the incident “extreme”.

But it was not extreme enough to warrant the police response, according to Davey’s lawyer Anthony Elliott, who branded it an “extraordinary overreaction” to a nonviolent protest which included his client having a gun pointed at him.

Elliott told the court Davey had been canvassing O’Neill’s residence in a Toyota Hilux in the days before the planned protest when an unmarked police car pulled in front of him, claiming the passenger got out of the car and pointed a gun at his client’s face.

“My client was worried he was about to be robbed or assaulted or both. And didn’t get out of his car. He was extremely fearful,” Elliott told the court.

Lane-Rose’s lawyer Zarah Burgess told the court it appeared police had been tracking the group for at least a week before the incident and dismissed concerns about the risk to O’Neill and her 18-year-old daughter who was at home at the time, maintaining authorities would have evacuated the residence if they believed the group posed a genuine threat.

Lawyers for all four defendants maintained the offending was “at the lower end” and worthy only of a small fine, pointing out that “not a single drop of paint was spilled” in the course of the protest.

Both Davey and Lane-Rose sought spent convictions, saying the pair were of prior good character and had no criminal record.

But they were divided when grilled by magistrate Steven Heath about whether the group’s decision to take its Disrupt Burrup Hub campaign from Woodside’s corporate headquarters to the personal residence of its boss crossed an ethical line.

State prosecutors argued there was a very strong need for both personal and general deterrence in any sentence handed down, stating it was planned, carefully coordinated and aimed at gaining publicity.

Heath reserved his decision.

Lane-Rose, Davey and Noakes are expected to be sentenced next week, while Mazza is due to be sentenced on February 24.

The group exited flanked by supporters, declaring they did not hold remorse for their actions while addressing the media and maintaining they did not cross a line.

As Matildas striker Sam Kerr fights to clear her name in court, Interim Australia coach Tom Sermanni says he expects the team’s captain to be back playing next month.

The 31-year-old is in court in the UK this week, facing a charge of racially aggravated abuse of a police officer following a night out in London in 2023.

Footage played in court in England on Monday showed the Matildas star labelling a police officer “stupid and white”.

Kerr denies the charge.

The striker is still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury and wasn’t included in a Matildas squad named by Sermanni for SheBelieves Cup fixtures in the USA later this month.

Sermanni, however, is confident the 128-cap international will be ready to play as soon as March.
AAP

A 25-year-old man has died in Perth’s south after the motorcycle he was riding and a car crashed this morning.

The black Kawasaki motorcycle and red Hyundai Elantra sedan collided at the intersection of Safety Bay Road and Arpenteur Drive in Baldivis, about 7.05am on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old received critical injuries and was rushed to Rockingham Hospital, where he later died.

The 34-year-old woman in the Hyundai received minor injuries and was taken to the same hospital as a precaution.

Officers from the Major Crash Investigation Section are asking for help from the public to gather ore information about the fatal crash.

They have urged anyone who saw, or has information relating to the crash, or who saw either vehicle travelling in the area prior to the crash, to contact Crime Stoppers.

During the 12 months ending December 2024, WA recorded an 17 per cent increase in road deaths.

If you or anyone you know has been affected by a road crash, contact Road Trauma Support WA on 1300 004 814.

The police homicide squad is at the scene of a serious alleged family violence incident in Clarkson this morning.

Emergency services were called to the home on Elsbury Approach about 6.25am on Tuesday, arriving to find a 72-year-old man and 52-year-old woman with serious injuries.

Police at the scene of an alleged family violence homicide in Clarkson this morning.Credit: 9News Perth

The woman was rushed to hospital by St John Ambulance, but the man died at the scene.

A man in his 30s – believed to be the elderly man’s son – was arrested at the scene and is assisting police with their inquiries.

“All parties are known to each other and at this stage police believe the incident is family violence related,” a police spokeswoman said.

Anyone with information that could help police, or CCTV or dashcam vision of the area between 5.30am and 6.30am on Tuesday, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or make a report online.