WA News as it happened Friday, May 24

Thank you for joining us today as we brought you the news you needed to know.

We leave you with breaking news that ex-AFL player, 80-year-old Barry Cable, has been charged over historic child sexual abuse between 1967 and 1968.

Cable will appear before the Perth Magistrate’s Court next week, facing a string of charges related to alleged indecent dealing with, and unlawful carnal knowledge of, a girl under 13.

In other crime news, a mother has been found guilty of forcing her 20-year-old daughter to marry an older man before he murdered the young woman.

Sakina Muhammad Jan, from Victoria’s north, faced a two-week trial in the County Court after denying she coerced her daughter into marrying the man from Western Australia in 2019.

She was charged with causing a person to enter into a forced marriage.

And, on a lighter note, columnist Kate Halfpenny writes that watching West Coast Eagles young gun Harley Reid play footy has made her feel hopeful among all the terrible things happening in the world.

We look forward to your company next week and hope you enjoy your weekend.

Taking you back to an earlier post now and Jye Bremner-Walker, who allegedly removed his ankle monitor to escape police, has been arrested.

The 29-year-old was last seen in Orelia, in Perth’s south, around 10.15pm on Thursday, and police put out a call for help locating him on Friday morning.

He was taken into custody in Salter Point about 3pm this afternoon.

To breaking crime news now and Child Abuse Squad detectives have charged an 80-year-old man as a result of their investigation into historic child sexual abuse allegations.

It will be alleged that between 1967 and 1968 the man sexually assaulted a girl who was between 9 and 10 years old at the time.

The man has been charged with five counts of indecent dealing with girl under 13 and two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 13 years.

The 80-year-old man, from Shelley, is due to appear before the Perth Magistrates Court on May 30.

Environmentalists have taken issue with the state government’s announcement today regarding what it called a key milestone for the protection of the Exmouth Gulf.

WA’s Environment Minister Reece Whitby said the government had signed an agreement with traditional owners paving the way for the creation of a national park and nature reserve – key parts of its Plan for Our Parks initiative.

The state government has postponed a decision on creating wider protection in the Exmouth Gulf, environmentalists say.Credit: Andre Rerekura

The finalisation of the agreement was also an important step to create a new marine park in the eastern and southern portions of the Gulf, it said.

But Protect Ningaloo director Paul Gamblin said this announcement meant further delay to the creation of a whole-of-gulf marine park.

Here’s what he had to say:

We applaud the leadership of the Nyinggulu Traditional Owners who have forged an agreement with the government. This is an exciting and important agreement.

It is most unfortunate that in the same announcement ... Whitby also announced the Cook government will postpone the creation of a multiple-use marine park across the whole of Exmouth Gulf.

We do not believe there is any justification. The western gulf is renowned for its resting humpback whale mothers and calves, dugongs, dolphins, corals, sponge gardens and so much more.

Today’s announcement that whole-of-gulf marine protection will be postponed only deepens the uncertainty.

If you are curious about this saga, here’s some background:

Australia’s cascading housing affordability crises have all but killed belief in the Great Australian Dream, experts say, as the average house becomes further out of reach of the average earner.

A household where one partner earns the average income and the other works half the week could borrow enough money to buy a home worth $756,250, Canstar modelling shows. That assumes they save a deposit of $151,250 plus transaction costs including stamp duty.

A budget of that size would not stretch to the average house in Perth.

If both partners work full-time their budget would stretch to $1,075,000, provided they could save a deposit of $215,000. This would just cover the median house in most cities except Sydney, where it would fall half a million dollars short.

Some buyers are moving out of Sydney and Melbourne, such as to Brisbane or Perth, to be able to buy a home.

Read more

The slabs in our South West are world-renowned, which naturally means loal surfers who have grown up on Margaret River and Yallingup waves are well-prepared to take on some of the world’s biggest swells.

While most boardriders would quake in their wetsuits at the sight of the monstrous wall of water at Teahupo’o looming over them, for Margs local Jack Robinson – one of the nation’s best big-wave surfers – it’s just another day in the job.

Margaret River’s Jack Robinson tucks into a heaving Teahupo’o barrel during the 2022 Tahiti Pro.Credit: Damien Poullenot/World Surf League

Robinson has taken a bit of time out of his schedule preparing for the Olympics surfing competition at the Tahitian break in July to explain what makes the wave so famous – and so fearsome.

And he has this gut-churning insight:

The wave actually bends.

You take off on the wave and you’re looking at the mountains.

And then the wave comes off with this incredibly fat and powerful lip, you’re inside and it bends around on you so you find yourself facing a different direction.

It’s just the wildest ride.

Gnarly, dude.

To penguin news now, and Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti has said the declining population of little penguins in Perth’s south was a cause for concern.

At a press conference Saffioti said the state government would be part of further research to identify the reasons behind the decline of the colony on Penguin Island.

Little penguins on Penguin Island in Rockingham face an uncertain future.Credit: Rockingham Wild Encounters

“There’s been a lot of discussion about Penguin Island, its discovery centre, and the future of tourism there,” she said.

“It’s all being worked through with the environmental agency to make sure we balanced the tourism aspects, but in particular the welfare of the penguin habitat.”

Saffioti said the environment minister was on top of the problem.

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has still not officially released a copy of a new and damning population report, but this masthead has obtained a copy.

A Victorian mother has been found guilty of forcing her 20-year-old daughter to marry an older man and live with him in Perth.

The forced marriage ended when he murdered the young woman.

Ruqia Haidari, left, was murdered by her husband at their Perth home in January 2020.

Sakina Muhammad Jan, from Victoria’s north, faced a two-week trial in the County Court after denying she coerced her daughter into marrying the man from Western Australia in 2019.

Prosecutors said Ruqia Haidari told her mother she did not want to marry Mohammad Ali Halimi and accused Jan of handing her daughter over to him in exchange for a $10,000 dowry.

A friend of Haidari told court her mother had said she must stay with her husband, saying “we will only take back your dead body”.

Read more here

A multi-day basketball extravaganza is coming to Perth.

The festival featuring all NBL and WNBL teams together in the same place at the same time will include Round One of the NBL Season, and a WNBL Tournament.

Thirteen NBL and WNBL games, and 140 U18 Australian Club Championship games, will be played.

Basketball action is coming to Perth.

There will be an interactive fan zone, Sneakerland exhibition and more.

“HoopsFest is the first of its kind and is set to be the biggest and best weekend in the sport’s history, and we are thrilled to bring it to life for the first time in Perth,” NBL CEO, David Stevenson, said.

“Western Australians love their basketball, so this announcement is a huge win for our community and I have no doubt we’ll see plenty of locals turning out to show their support for this fantastic event,” Minister for Sport and Recreation, David Templeman said.

A volunteer who is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week has been named the RAC WA Volunteer of the Year.

St John WA’s Peter Geraghty won the award last night, after 43 years of service to the Wheatbelt community.

Peter Geraghty is the WA Volunteer of the Year.Credit: St John Ambulance

Geraghty has been the Mukinbudin sub centre’s sole call-taker and ambulance dispatcher since 1985, sacrificing countless hours of his own time to ensure crews get to where they need to go quickly and efficiently.

The sub centre averages 290 calls a year spread between emergencies and patient transfers from Merredin.

“It is a very challenging job and dealing with local people that we know so well makes the job that much harder, but it can be very rewarding,” Geraghty said.

“The support we get from other volunteers is above and beyond and that is what makes the work so good.

“I consider it an absolute privilege and the true heroes out of this are our volunteers who have worked thousands of hours over the years.”