WA news LIVE: Perth super-centenarian gets her face on a block of Export; Nicheliving owes government $600k, Cook says

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

And, with Christmas and New Year’s less than two weeks away, we’re also going to bring the daily news blog to a close for the year.

Don’t fret! We’ll be back early next year for your daily dose of headlines, and our journalists will continue to bring you the latest news over the holiday period, so keep an eye on the WAtoday homepage, Facebook, and Twitter – sorry, X – for the latest from Perth and across WA.

Until then, thanks for tuning in, have a merry Christmas and a happy holiday break, and we’ll see you again next year for more news you need to know.

To some lighter news to round off your Thursday afternoon and today’s live blog – a new quokka population has been discovered in the Darling Scarp.

But if you’re hoping to swap the crowds at Rotto for a trip to the Perth Hills for a quokka selfie, you’re out of luck, their exact location is being kept confidential.

And rightly so, we think.

Quokkas have been photographed in the Darling Range for the first time.Credit: Tim Blake, BoorYul-Bah-Bilya

Bibbul Ngarma Aboriginal Association senior Elder Greg Ugle said it was the first time quokkas had been photographed by the public in the region and that protection of the animals was paramount.

“Looking at these photographs, this is an important find for me. As a Noongar Traditional Elder, my intention is to be sure to protect these little animals.”

Quokkas are best known on Wadjemap-Rottnest island although small groups live in the forests of the Noongar Boodja mainland around Jarrahdale, Dwellingup, Collie, Nannup, Northcliffe, Denmark, the Stirling Ranges, Green Ranges and Bald Island.

Quokkas were once abundant in south-west WA but have reduced dramatically since the 1930s, likely due to foxes and widespread clearing practices for agriculture and mining.

In the 1920s, quokkas were considered a pest of pine plantations and farms near Perth and were actively hunted and poisoned.

We say let’s leave these newly found little creatures in peace.

Famous British YouTuber and rapper Yung Filly found himself back in a Perth court today on hooning charges after allegedly driving 158 km/h while on bail.

Police will allege the 29-year-old was caught on camera travelling above the 100km/h zone limit on Roe Highway in High Wycombe at about 6.25pm yesterday.

Musician and Youtuber Yung Filly, also known as Andres Barrientos, has been arrested over serious sexual assault allegations.Credit: Marv.Media

Yung Filly – real name Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos – is on bail for separate charges after being accused of raping a woman following a Perth concert in October.

Barrientos was charged with four counts of sexual penetration without consent, three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, and one count of impeding a person’s breathing after allegedly assaulting a woman in his hotel room after a performance at Bar1 in Hillarys.

After the September 27 show he continued his tour in Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast.
He was later arrested in Queensland and extradited to WA.

Police prosecutors opposed bail due to the serious nature of the allegations, strong evidence including CCTV, and the possibility Barrientos would interfere with a witness.

They expressed concerns there was a significant power imbalance, given Barrientos’ social media influence and large body of followers.

Barrientos boasts 3.2 million followers on Instagram and more than 1.8 million on YouTube.

They also said Barrientos was a flight risk as he had access to millions of dollars, financial support, was from the UK with no other link to WA, and that more charges may arise.

Barrientos’ defence lawyer Seamus Rafferty requested a suppression order on his client’s name being published, stating it would jeopardise his right to a fair trial.

However, journalists in court objected to this request and no orders were imposed.

Barrientos will appear in court again in relation to those charges on December 19.

Sticking with Labor-related news the party has finally announced who will run in some of its toughest seats.

Geraldton councillor Jenna Denton has been selected to run against Nationals leader Shane Love in the new seat of Mid West while Shenton Park teacher Mary Monkhouse will run in Nedlands after current Labor MP Katrina Stratton opted to run for the upper house.

Labor candidate for Nedlands Mary Monkhouse.Credit: WA Labor/Facebook

Monkhouse has been a teacher for more than 34 years in both public and private settings while Denton has managed regional services across business, education, health, disability and mental health sectors.

Monkhouse said education was a cornerstone of why they called the electorate of Nedlands home.
Denton said Mid West residents served a representative who was present, active, willing to listen, worked hard and delivered for the region.

Both women will be unlikely to win their seats.

Stratton win in Nedlands was one of the biggest shocks of the 2021 Labor landslide driven by the popularity of former Premier Mark McGowan.

She holds the seat with a margin of 2.8 per cent thanks to a 9.1 per cent swing in her primary vote but most pundits expect her seat to swing back toward the Liberals and its candidate Perth businessman Johnathan Huston.

Denton will face an uphill battle taking on Love in the newly created seat of Mid West whose main competition will come from Nationals-turned Liberal defector Merome Beard.

Love would be returned to the seat with a margin of 8.6 per cent if the last election’s results were replicated at the polling booth level.

A former federal Liberal minister and right-hand man of Scott Morrison will lead a review of the employment arrangements of WA electorate officers after a damning CCC inquiry found Labor officers routinely carried out political campaigning on the taxpayer dime.

That report suggested the government review the employment arrangements of electorate officers, which Premier Roger Cook announced today would be led by former WA Liberals state director and Tangney MP Ben Morton.

Former Public Service Minister Ben Morton.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

This role will be the third appointment to a government entity by the WA Labor government since he was ousted in the 2022 federal election.

“The appointment of Ben Morton to lead this independent review will see him work with all stakeholders, including the Department and Parliament, to provide clear recommendations on a way forward,” Cook said.

“Ben brings a wealth of relevant knowledge and experience gained from his roles as the Minister for the Public Service and Special Minister of State in the Morrison Government.“

Morton said MPs and their electorate officers performed important roles in the community, so it was important they continued to perform those roles into the future with confidence.

Parliamentary rules stipulate that electorate officers must only serve MPs’ constituents during office hours and not do party political work.

“[Electorate officers] were routinely undertaking political campaigning during working hours and were being trained to do so during those hours,” the CCC said.

“The explanation was that the time was made up outside of standard hours. However, there are no systems or records to prove or disprove that explanation.“

The investigation, called Operation Godrevy, resembled the Victorian Ombudsman’s “red shirts” inquiry into Daniel Andrews’ 2014 Labor Party election campaign.

The report did not make a finding of serious misconduct because there was no evidence to back up – or disprove – Labor’s claims.

Returning to our earlier post about the directors of embattled builder Nicheliving buying back the company in a $2.7 million deal, and WA Premier Roger Cook has revealed the state government is still owed some $600,000 due to unpaid payroll tax.

At his press conference earlier this morning, the premier said a representative for the commissioner for state revenue attended Wednesday’s creditors’ meeting and opposed the buy-back proposal, and the government was “disappointed” by the outcome.

“That company owes the state, I think, around $600,000 in relation to unpaid payroll tax, so we’re a creditor, and we believe that more other steps should have been taken in relation to the creditors receiving their money,” Cook said.

However, Cook noted Nicheliving could “still not lay a brick”, and Wednesday’s meeting did not change the situation for home owners whose builds were stuck in limbo as the company fell into administration.

He said there had been 212 claims through the government’s home indemnity insurance scheme, and 103 had already been paid out to the value of $19.1 million.

Regular readers may recall our story from last month about super-centenarian Bridget Grocke celebrating her 110th birthday (yes, you read that right – 110).

The Subiaco resident – who lived independently until the age of 109, before moving into Bethanie aged care – still enjoys a glass of her favourite beer, the esteemed Emu Export, every day at 4pm.

Well, the PR department at Lion, Emu’s parent company, saw that story and spotted an opportunity.

On Wednesday, the great-great-grandmother was gifted a personalised block of red eggs emblazoned with her face and name to celebrate her milestone birthday.

“Well, I never,” Grocke laughed as she opened the carton.

It may not be recommended by dieticians, but Grocke swears by her daily glass of lager and the only major surgery she’s faced has been a cataracts operation.

We’ll raise a glass to that.

It will come as a surprise to no one that WA continues to lead the pack in population growth.

We grew by 81,397 people, or 2.8 per cent in the year to June 30 to a total of 2,965,159, according to the latest figures released on Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

That puts us ahead of Victoria with 2.4 per cent growth and Queensland with 2.3 per cent.

ABS population net migration quarterly statistics. The country’s overall net overseas migration has seen a recent downward trend, with 445,600 immigrants adding to our population between June 2023-24 compared with 535,572 in the year prior between June 2022-23.Credit: Australian Bureau of statistics

Our fair state’s natural growth – the number of babies born less the numbers of deaths – has continued its downward trend as immigration drives the population increase.

Of those 81,397 people, 58,082 came from overseas migration, 9742 from interstate and 13,573 from natural increase.

In the quarter from March to June, we grew by 13,360 people, with 8246 of those coming from overseas migration, 2411 from interstate migration and 2703 from natural increase.

As a nation on the whole, Australia’s population grew by 2.1 per cent in the year to June 30 to 27.2 million people.

But according to ABS head of demography Beidar Cho, the country’s overall net overseas migration has seen a recent downward trend, with 445,600 immigrants adding to our population between June 2023-24 compared with 535,572 in the year prior between June 2022-23.

Australia’s natural increase was 106,400 people, up 3.4 per cent from the previous year.

There were 289,100 births and 182,700 deaths registered over the period, with births dropping 0.7 per cent and deaths falling 2.9 per cent.

As reported by WAtoday last month, WA welcomed its three millionth person on October 24.

Earlier this morning we brought you the news that two cyclists are in hospital after a crash on Welshpool Road East near the intersection of Melaleuca Road in Lesmurdie.

Police said the cyclists and a silver Ford Falcon sedan collided just before 6am.

The cyclists – two men in their 20s and 40s – were taken by St John ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries. The male driver of the Falcon, 29, was uninjured.

The driver has now been charged with two counts of ‘careless driving causing death, grievous bodily harm or bodily harm’.

He will appear in court at a later date.

WA Premier Roger Cook has just held a press conference hailing a funding injection for community sport utilising school facilities.

But it’s the questions from reporters at the end of the announcement which has caught your blogger’s ear.

The premier was pressed on the several outages on train lines this week – on top of this morning’s delays, there were also delays yesterday when temperatures soared, and the newly opened Ellenbrook line faced technical issues in its first week of operation.

Cook said he understood today’s issues were related to the hot weather which baked WA yesterday, and noted the signalling network was also going through upgrades.

However, he believed WA had a public transport system which was the “envy of the world”. And if you don’t believe him, have a look somewhere else:

Look, my message would be, if you’re frustrated with our public transport system go try out ones in other states and territories.

Ours is an outstanding system. Obviously, we’re moving hundreds of thousands of people a day, so occasionally that you will have an outage, you will have mechanical issues.

But this is part and parcel of any public transport system.

Touché.