As it happened: WA news on Tuesday, April 29

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

Here’s some of the headlines we covered today:

• A 17-year-old boy is due to face Children’s Court as police begin to clamp down on a group of teenage ‘bike bandits’ causing terror in Perth’s northern coastal suburbs.

• Perth property buyers could have made a 70 per cent capital gain if they purchased their home five years ago.

• The parents of Perth brothers Callum and Jake Robinson, tragically killed in Mexico one year ago yesterday, have released a statement reflecting on the weight of their grief and acknowledging the movement their sons inspired.

• Hundreds gathered at Swan Districts Football Club this morning to farewell football great Andrew Krakouer, who died of a heart attack in Perth last month aged 42.

• Resources Minister Madeleine King has fired several shots at the Coalition’s nuclear power plan for Collie, which she claims will impact the Margaret River wine region two hours away.

• Brad Pitt will star in a film adaptation of famed WA novelist Tim Winton’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Riders, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

• Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a body that was found on a boat in Bicton last week.

• Basil Zempilas has delivered his inaugural speech to parliament, talking at length about his parents’ migration to WA from Greece and their lives in Perth, as well as some insights he has gained through his long career in the media.

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

Former AFL player Brad Johnson says West Coast young gun Harley Reid should be dropped to “go and learn a lot of things in terms of his work rate and professionalism”.

Listen to what he has to say about the number one draft pick below:

It’s hard to recall a question time as sprightly as this one.

Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence minister Jessica Stojkovski.Credit: WA Parliament

Deputy opposition leader Libby Mettam has just questioned Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence minister Jessica Stojkovski over whether she raised concerns in the cabinet about the issues with GPS trackers for DV offenders.

Stojkovski said her party was the only one that made some reforming change in the domestic violence space.

“You had eight years in government,” she said before pointing to Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas and accusing him of shutting down a women’s shelter while he was lord mayor.

Virtually the entire Labor frontbench have made sniping remarks at the opposition.

Sticking with Parliament now, question time has devolved into a shouting match following a question by Nationals leader Shane Love about the state’s problematic rollout of GPS monitoring of domestic violence offenders.

Love was trying to get Premier Roger Cook to admit the government didn’t properly resource the rollout of the technology in December after it was revealed the trackers may not work in mobile black spots in regional WA.

Cook pivoted his response to firearms reforms accusing the opposition of not supporting community safety given its attempts to scrap the laws in the upper house.

Central Wheatbelt MP Lachlan Hunter requested a point of order over relevance which triggered shouting across the chamber.

Zempilas fired back at the Premier citing new Police Minister Reece Whitby’s apology for firearms owners for the issues to do with the rollout of the laws earlier this month.

The opposition has used every question so far this question time to ask about the GPS tracking issue.

To Harvest Terrace now where parliament has restarted after the Easter break and opposition leader Basil Zempilas is delivering his inaugural speech to parliament.

He has so far talked at length about his parents’ migration to WA from Greece and their lives in Perth ever since.

Basil Zempilas is the new opposition leader in WA.Credit: Hamish Hastie

What pricked this reporter’s ears was him recounting his time on AM radio with Steve Mills at 6PR.

In particular, he mentioned his favourite part of that period was bringing the Rumour File segment to the show.

“Now there’s an irony to standing in this place and talking about the Rumour File, because let me tell you, as the host, the best customers for the segment invariably came from this very building, more often than not the press secretaries for various leaders,” he said.

“Once a broadcaster always a broadcaster I’m not about to blow anyone’s cover but to those who went by the code names Polly Waffle, Light on the Hill, Two Metre Rita and Mr Speaker, a very good afternoon to you, and thank you for your contributions.”

Zempilas’ family including his aunty, mother and wife are all in attendance for his speech.

He thanked his family for their support as well as his campaign team including former campaign manager Cam Sinclair who embroiled Zempilas in controversy during the election campaign after it was revealed he helped facilitate polling for a “mystery businessman” that was used to try unseat former Liberal leader Libby Mettam from that role.

It’s nearly a full house in the chamber minus Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti.

WAtoday has witnessed at least 20 MPs scrolling their phones – including Premier Roger Cook and some on Zempilas’ own bench – while he was delivering his speech.

Police have today launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a body that was found on a boat last week.

They say a 51-year-old man was found deceased on a boat moored at Blackwall Reach just after 4pm on Thursday.

A map highlighting areas where CCTV or boat cameras may have captured the moorings in Bicton. Credit: WA Police

Now they’re seeking anyone who might have CCTV footage that captures boats moored on the Swan River, Bicton and Mosman Park, between Point Walter, Chidley Point Reserve, Bicton Quarantine Park and Russel Brown Adventure Park from March 26 to April 24, 2025.

They are also looking for information from anyone who has vision from a boat-mounted camera or dash-camera vision taken in the same areas.

Anyone with any information relating to this incident is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online via www.crimestopperswa.com.au.

Brad Pitt will star in a film adaptation of famed WA novelist Tim Winton’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Riders, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

“Following a competitive situation, A24 has landed the hot package,” Deadline says.

Conclave director Edward Berger will team with Pitt on the A24 feature with the Reporter also naming Ridley Scott among producers and saying shooting will start in early 2026 in multiple locations across Europe.

Brad Pitt in production on the movie ‘F1’, arriving in cinemas in June.Credit: AP

The haunting 1995 novel of a man searching for his missing wife and child is Winton’s only story set in an international location, written while Winton was living in Europe.

The quest to bring it to the screen has an unlucky history more than two decades long. Three directors have previously been named, with actors involved at various times including Sam Worthington, Ronan Keating, Luke Hemsworth and Richard E. Grant.

This iteration has been in the works since in 2018 it was reported David Kajganich would adapt the novel.

Industry talk over the years was that the novel’s ambiguous ending was a challenge, says our contributor Mark Naglazas, a WA arts journalist who has documented its fortunes over the years.

“The Riders is part of local film industry folklore. It is the movie everyone wanted to be a part of and audiences were desperate to see, but nobody could crack the notoriously oblique ending,” Naglazas says.

“But Brad Pitt is getting a reputation for backing interesting movies, so maybe The Riders will become the next Winton book to hit the big screen.

“Winton adaptations are a wildly mixed bag; the best is The Turning, the worst is Dirt Music and Breath was somewhere in between.”

Star ruck Luke Jackson is firming to return from injury as Fremantle aim to use their St Kilda clash as a springboard into the AFL top eight.

Jackson has put himself in frame to return from a hamstring injury after training strongly on Tuesday, Dockers coach Justin Longmuir says.

The ruckman has not played since Fremantle’s round-four win over the Western Bulldogs.

Luke Jackson.Credit: Getty Images

“He has to get through training, but we’re pretty positive about his progression and pretty positive about the work he’s done,” Longmuir said.

“I felt like he could have played last week. That’s only my feeling, so we’re hopeful.”

The Dockers have moved in and out of the top eight since Jackson last played after inconsistent results against Richmond, Melbourne and Adelaide.

He will be a welcome addition alongside fellow ruck Sean Darcy for Friday’s clash at Marvel Stadium, with Fremantle (4-3) sitting ninth following their most recent 18-point win over the Crows.

Jackson was probably the side’s most in-form player before his injury, Longmuir said:

We probably see Sean as our No.1 ruckman. We’ll give more time to Jacko than maybe what we have in the past though and Sean will have to tidy up his forward craft at times. It probably gives us flexibility to use Jacko in other places as well. It’s always a horses-for-courses mentality with how much time each of them rucks and plays other roles.

AAP

Police are appealing to the public for information after a major breakthrough in an unsolved hit-and-run in Golden Bay in 2020, with a reward of up to $250,000 available.

About 2.45am on November 22 that year, police were alerted to a man lying dead in the northbound lanes of Mandurah Road, just north of the Dampier Drive intersection.

Through enhanced CCTV capability, police have now identified a vehicle of interest: a white Nissan Navara D40 ute with a black decal along the lower part of the passenger side doors, no decals on the driver’s side, a faded right rear taillight and an “aftermarket” bull bar.

Police are seeking a car that looks like this. Credit: WA Police

Investigators believe the driver and any occupants may have vital information.

Major Crash Detective Senior Sergeant Hugh Le Tessier told reporters this morning the victim’s family deserved answers.

He said the victim, whose name was Matthew, had been at a party that evening and was walking home.

He was a father whose children were now growing up without him.

“We’re committed to finding those answers for them,” he said.

“There’s been an extensive investigation to date, there’s a large number of witnesses who have been spoken to.

“It’s really just in the most recent past that our technology in respect of CCTV enhancement has enabled us to identify this particular vehicle.

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that a person lost their life.”

Anyone with any information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or report online via www.crimestopperswa.com.au.

WA Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash has dismissed those as “laughable” the comments from Resources Minister Madeleine King reported in our 10.46am post.

A nuclear power plant in Collie would erode the South West wine region’s global reputation, King had said.

Cash thinks not:

This is another ridiculous scare campaign from a desperate Labor Party that will do anything to distract from their appalling record in government, and lies on delivering a $275 cut to power bills. Countries like France have been using nuclear power for decades with no impact on the reputation of their wine industry. Why is Labor happy to back our AUKUS nuclear submarines but at the same time say absurd things like this about nuclear power? They’ve lied about the cost of our electricity system plan time and again, and have now resorted to this nonsense as well.