As it happened: WA news on Friday, November 15

Good afternoon readers, and thanks for joining us this week.

There’s a lovely weekend of activities planned in Perth. Here’s just a few:

Freo Long Table 2024.

Tonight is the City of Perth opening party for its 10 days of PrideFEST events at Pride Piazza from 5pm, with performances under the stars. If you miss that, there’s a Fair Day on Sunday at Supreme Court Gardens from 10am to 6pm with entertainment, LGBTQIA+ community stallholders, and an array of market stalls offering unique treasures and delights.

Also tonight: Perth Horror Fans & The Backlot Cinema Perth present the Australian premiere of 2015’s Gorephers followed up with 2012’s hit horror comedy 100 Bloody Acres, from The Cairnes Brothers of Late Night With The Devil. This special screening also includes an exclusive introduction by Perth’s own horror host, Soxie The Salacious Spectre.

On Saturday night, Fremantle’s iconic Naval Store will play host to the Fremantle Long Table Dinner, a fundraiser to support people experiencing homelessness. There will be fine dining and entertainment with a Marine Steampunk theme in a nod to the setting.

On Sunday afternoon, there’s a free performance on the front lawn at Fremantle Arts Centre. Timothy Nelson & The Infidels reunite to celebrate the anniversary of their second album Terror Terror, Hide It Hide It, by performing the album in its entirety, plus old favourites. There will be food trucks, drinks, all the good stuff. The arts centre is also running a curator tour of one of its current exhibitions a bit earlier in the day.

Whatever you decide to go, have fun and stay safe!

The live blog will be back on Monday.

West Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s not-for-profit organisation Minderoo Foundation has hosted a discussion on climate change, as the United Nations’ annual Climate Change Conference (COP29) gets underway in Azerbaijan’s capital.

On Thursday night, ambassadors, ministers, guests, and government representatives gathered in Sydney to discuss the urgent need for ambitious climate action and the critical role of Pacific voices.

In a speech, Forrest said Australia and the Pacific needed to lead the shift from fossil fuels, particularly if they were to win the bid to host the 2026 conference.

“Australia not only has a huge obligation to act, we have a huge opportunity,” he said.

“We must lead the charge on real zero – eliminating fossil fuel use.”

Forrest has long spruiked his plans to go green, but has said net zero was a “fantasy”, instead claiming ‘real zero’ was the way to go.

To something a little disturbing now (or fascinating depending on your view) for your Friday afternoon.

Kalbarri Visitor Centre has uploaded a video to its Facebook page of a pelican attempting to eat a seagull.

Yes, really.

The pelican was surrounded by tourists who had come along to take part in the town’s daily pelican feeding session, run by a team of volunteers.

Luckily for the seagull, volunteer on duty Jess was quick to the rescue, and managed to pull open the pelican’s beak long enough for it to fly free.

You can watch the incident unfold below:

WA MP and coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has thrown his support behind the contentious nomination of veteran and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as the cabinet secretary in charge of the US military.

Pete Hegseth interviews president Donald Trump at the White House in 2017.Credit: AP

Hegseth is one of a clutch of unconventional picks President-elect Donald Trump has made as he assembles his new administration.

The former host of a weekend Fox News breakfast show has made a name for himself deriding woke culture in the military, argued against women in combat roles, and voiced support for troops convicted of war crimes.

Hastie, also a former soldier, said Hegseth’s nomination “looks like a good one”, pointing to his military background and degrees from Princeton and Harvard.

“An outsider there to shake things up and as always,” Hastie said on ABC.

“My mission will be to establish a good working relationship with whoever is in that position and I’m confident I can do so.

“There is a lot of hyperventilating around the choices president-elect Trump has made… I have read his book, The War On Warriors, and if we want to understand where the next secretary of defence is going, it is not going down the path of political correctness.”

UPDATED: This alert has been downgraded to bushfire advice.

People in an area bound by Timaru Road, Brand Highway and Airfield Road in parts of Bambun, Muchea, Breera and Chittering have been urged to take action as an out-of-control bushfire is nearby.

The bushfire is moving in a northeasterly direction.

It is not contained or controlled.

What to do

• If your plan is to leave, leave now.

• Take your emergency kit with you. It should include an AM/FM radio that runs off batteries, a first aid kit, a woollen blanket, phones, protective clothing, medication and irreplaceable valuables.

• Decide where you will go and how you will get there. This could be with family or friends away from the fire.

• Keep your doors and windows closed to keep out smoke.

• Turn off evaporative air conditioners, but keep water running through the system if possible to prevent embers entering your home.

• Move flammable materials such as doormats, wheelie bins and outdoor furniture away from your home.

• If you plan to stay and defend ensure you are mentally and physically prepared, with protective clothing and an independent water supply. Make final preparations now and start patrolling your property to put out spot fires.

The number of taxpayer dollars being funnelled into efforts to bail out failed Collie coal miner Griffin Coal continues to balloon.

Accounting firm KPMG has had its contract to provide advice to the Cook government on the Griffin Coal bailout extended and tripled to $3 million.

The original contact was worth $240,000 when KPMG was brought onboard in August 2023 for 12 months but that was extended to a rolling contract at the start of this year worth $990,000.

The contract has ballooned. Credit: Nic Walker

Figures revealed in parliament on Thursday show the contract was extended to June 2026 and its value has grown to $3.08 million with $1.52 million already paid.

That money comes on top of the $260 million the government has set aside to keep the insolvent Griffin operating and providing coal to Collie coal-fired generators.

Opposition energy spokesman Steve Thomas said the figures painted a damning picture of the management of the Collie coalfields.

Thomas questioned what value the government was getting from the KPMG contract.

“The only result of that money I have seen has been a recommendation that the price for coal goes up to reflect the price of production, which would significantly impact retail power prices,” he said.

In parliament Labor’s deputy leader of the upper house Stephen Dawson said KPMG had provided written and verbal advice to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet on a range of matters relating to the administration of the Griffin coal processing agreement.

He said details of those reports for commercial in confidence.

To court now, where the trial of the Floreat parents accused of starving their daughter continued this morning.

Registered nurse Dorothy Best took the stand, and was questioned about the girl’s time in Perth Children’s Hospital.

Best was asked to take notes of what happened in the room while the girl was being fed by a nasal tube.

She told the court of how the family would play Uno and talk about cats.

She said the parents talked about diet during the day, and how processed food was unappealing and questioned the cleaning of her room floor.

Asked if anything about the interactions of the girl and her mother stuck out in her mind, the nurse said she thought it was pretty normal.

If she hadn’t been instructed to take notes, she would have thought what went on was “really benign”.

Court has adjourned for the day now and the trial will recommence next week.

Into the suburbs now to revisit a story we published last week about a local council’s decision last year to shift its Australia Day citizenship ceremony away from January 26.

This week, after the city received pushback from the community, all but one City of Wanneroo councillor decided to keep the event on the 26th.

The event has been crowned the country’s largest several years in a row.

Councillor Jordan Wright said while the City’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait community reference group Ni Kadadjiny Koort was likely to be hurt by the decision, the council had to act on the wishes of the “majority of the community”.

“The city and the council is very committed to reconciliation and there are various other initiatives that are underway in regards to closing the gap, initiatives around employment… [and] various other initiatives to continue working on reconciliation. While this may be a bit of a pause in that journey, I don’t think this will be a forever thing within the state or within Australia,” he said.

“I just think the country is just simply not ready at this point.”

A door-to-door random survey of 375 City of Wanneroo residents showed 48 per cent wanted to keep the ceremony on Australia Day; 19 per cent wanted to change it; and 33 per cent had no preference.

An online Open Survey Sample survey available to all residents and ratepayers, completed by 214 people, showed 74 per cent supported keeping the date, 20 per cent were against it, and six had no preference.

The main reasons for keeping the ceremony on Australia Day included national significance, tradition and convenience.

Those in favour of changing the ceremony date listed cultural sensitivity, solidarity with First Nations Australians, and the desire to avoid controversy as their reasons.

Turning now to politics and WA Premier Roger Cook has defended fining commuters for not tagging on using their SmartRider, despite travelling on a Sunday – when travel is meant to be free.

Commuters are being fined $100 for not tagging on, despite travelling during periods advertised as free travel. Credit: iStockphoto

It was revealed this morning that over $1 million in fines had been handed out over the past year to those not tagging on.

More than 130 people were fined every Sunday, and thousands of school students, who are also meant to have free access during weekdays, were also caught out.

“It’s absolutely fair,” Cook said when questioned over the fines at a press conference on Friday.

“This is free travel, it’s not rule-free travel, so you still have to keep your feet off the seats, you can’t eat on the trains, you can’t drink on the trains. You are still under the rules of the PTA.

“It’s important that people tag on so that we understand people’s movements and understand the travel across the network.”

When asked if the rule to tag on needed to be communicated better, Cook said he thought it was already clear.

He said the fines had nothing to do with making up lost revenue from the free travel.

Security guards working in the Northbridge entertainment precinct have been put on notice by police, who say they have started focusing random drug testing efforts on those employed to keep the community safe.

Officers are also concerned some in the industry have links to bikie gangs and help distribute drugs for those groups at major events.

On November 8 and 9, officers conducted one of the first drug testing operations aimed at maintaining the integrity of, and public confidence in, the security industry.

They were required to undergo a random drug test and of 22 tested, two returned a positive test result.

Inspector Doug Stjepic said those in the industry relied on each other to stay safe, on top of having the responsibility of protecting the public.

While the vast majority [do] the right thing, intelligence suggests Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and other criminal networks are targeting those who are more susceptible to being corrupted to aid them in their distribution of illicit drugs to patrons of licensed venues and public events.

It is also believed some of those involved are paid in-kind with illicit drugs for their own use, increasing the potential for them to be under the influence of drugs while at work.

Depending on where they work, they are expected to be able to make quick decisions that impact on the safety of people, particularly at licensed venues and public events, and it is important their ability to perform their duties lawfully and safely is not compromised due to being under the influence of illicit drugs.