As it happened: WA news on Tuesday, May 21

That’s all from us today, thanks for joining us as we brought you the news from Perth and across WA.

If you’re about to drive home along Tonkin Highway, be aware that Main Roads has warned of a diesel spill at the Thomas Road intersection. Various lanes are affected, but there are no traffic delays.

Some of the biggest news we brought you today included the latest development in the defamation fight between WA Senator Linda Reynolds and her former staffer Brittany Higgins and Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz.

The trio went to mediation this morning, but the senator emerged several hours later with news that it looked as though the matter would proceed to trial.

Meanwhile, down the road at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, the country’s biggest oil and gas producers have been gathering for their annual conference.

Resources Minister Madeleine King labelled calls for no large new gas projects “useless”, while at the same time attempting to distance herself from the “gas-led recovery” proposed by the Coalition government three years ago.

And the chief executive of Australia’s biggest oil and gas producer Woodside says energy markets will continue to be rocked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Just earlier we also brought you news of a former immigration detainee allowed to walk free on a suspended sentence for breaching his release conditions – despite his lengthy rap sheet.

Thank you again for joining us. Check back tomorrow as we continue to bring you the news you need to know.

A former immigration detainee with a lengthy rap sheet in WA that includes burglaries, stealing and drug offences has been given a suspended sentence after breaching the conditions of his release from detention last year.

Kimbengere Gosoge, 42, had repeatedly reoffended since his release from detention in November 2023, Perth Magistrate Robert Young said while sentencing him on Tuesday.

Young said in this year alone, Gosoge had been arrested and charged with stealing, possession of methamphetamine and trespassing, as well as for breaching the conditions of his release.

It was that visa breach he was sentenced for on Tuesday – becoming the first former detainee to be sentenced for breaching their release conditions – with Young giving the Burundi-born man another chance by suspending his mandatory term of imprisonment and allowing him to walk free under a good behaviour bond.

Read Rebecca Peppiatt’s report from Perth Magistrates Court here.

Moving on to footy, and would you look at that? The mid-season draft looms. Already? Yes, already. So, who’s in the mix this year?

Meet Jasper Scaife, the forward with an infamous work ethic whose WAFL coach thinks he has such a booming kick he could be a punter in the NFL if he doesn’t make it in Aussie rules footy.

Jasper Scaife is set to be picked up by North with the top selection in next week’s mid-season draft.Credit: AFL Photos

North Melbourne have their eyes on him as they prioritise finding Nick Larkey a key forward sidekick.

Two rival recruiters, who spoke anonymously to because they were discussing another club’s plans, believe West Perth’s Scaife – a 197-centimetre forward who turns 20 in September – is in the Roos’ sights.

Scaife’s work ethic is famed at the Falcons. He arrived early to training on the Monday after kicking four goals against Perth in round two to take shots from the spot where he had a rare miss.

He will play this weekend for West Perth ahead of the mid-season draft, which will be held next Wednesday night, May 29, with ladder positions to determine the order clubs will pick.

Read the full story here.

The Oxford Economics Global Cities Index has just come out for 2024 and the verdict is in for Perth.

According to the report, the western capital is ranked the third-best city in Australia and the 23rd in the world.

Do you really need a global report to know that life is good in Perth?Credit: Getty

Propping Perth up were factors like our high GDP growth and good air quality, while our lack of economic diversity, extreme temperatures and slower internet speed apparently let us down.

Canberra was ranked second globally for quality of life for its high life expectancy, higher education and income equality.

Here’s a bit more on what the report said:

The city is home to and serves as the operational and export basis to a large part of Australia’s important mining sector.

This is both a strength and a weakness for Perth; the mining generates substantial economic value for the city, contributing to a high GDP per person as well as a high rate of economic growth for a developed economy city.

However, Perth’s reliance on the mining sector also comes with drawbacks as it makes the city vulnerable to commodity price and demand fluctuations.

Indeed, Perth has the strongest population growth score and the second largest share of foreign-born residents in Australia.

The city also boasts a high level of educational attainment.

Its geographic isolation also implies that Perth does not provide the same access to cultural life as some of its Australian east coast peers.

Staying with the Australian Energy Producers conference, and WAtoday business reporter Peter Milne reports that the federal government has doubled down on its support for increased gas production, with Resources Minister Madeleine King labelling calls for now large new gas projects “useless”.

At the same time, King sought to distance herself from the gas-led recovery proposed by the Coalition government three years ago that also backed Australia’s second-biggest export commodity.

Resources Minister Madeleine King speaking at the annual conference of oil and gas lobby group Australian Energy Producers in Perth on Tuesday.Credit: David Broadway

King said Labor’s future gas strategy released last week was based on science and data.

In contrast, she said the Coalition’s “thought bubble” recklessly dumped all the responsibility for Australia’s energy security on gas as coal-fired power generation declined.

“As far as three-word slogans go, ‘gas-led recovery’ was about as useful as ‘no new gas’ when it comes to helping us balance the economic, energy and environmental challenges reality ahead for us and our region,” King said on Tuesday.

“Let me be clear: gas has a role to play in our future, but emissions have to rapidly and permanently come down.”

The only way large-scale fossil fuel can continue while limiting global warming is if a large portion of the resultant carbon pollution is captured and stored.

However, King pointed to recent comments by International Energy Agency director Faith Birol that it was a “very vital technology but the story of carbon capture and storage is one of disappointment.”

Read the full story here.

Back down the road to the convention centre, and Australia’s biggest oil and gas producer Woodside says energy markets will continue to be rocked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“The fallout has been massive, and the volatility is not over,” Woodside chief executive officer Meg O’Neill said in her speech to the Australian Energy Producers Conference on Tuesday.

Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill.Credit: Trevor Collens

“It is instability absolutely nobody wants.”

Liquefied natural gas prices are currently at the highest level since early January, and Brent, the global oil benchmark, has risen around 9 per cent this year.

The Australian government this month backed the development of new gas resources, arguing production of the fossil fuel will be necessary to sustain the nation’s export sector and also to avoid domestic energy shortfalls as coal plants are shuttered.

“To my mind the best solution to a shortage is always supply, supply, supply,” O’Neill said in the speech.

“We as industry are ready to roll up our sleeves.”

Bloomberg

WA Premier Roger Cook has waded into a growing national debate over banning children from social media, following revelations last weekend that South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas had engaged a former High Court chief justice to explore how the state would stop kids under 14 from creating accounts.

And on Monday, it emerged that the premiers of NSW, Queensland and Victoria wanted to the age limit for children to join social media such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to 16.

Cook was asked about this at a press conference yesterday and revealed that he supported age limits for social media – and had written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to say as much – but believed it should be a federally driven issue.

The premier expanded on those comments today in a statement posted, ironically, to Facebook:

When it comes to keeping our children safe online, it’s time we stepped in and let our kids be kids again.

When my kids were growing up, I was concerned about the effect social media had on their privacy.

Now, I also worry about how children are bombarded with radical philosophies, graphic and sexual content, and damaging body standards.

I know a lot of WA parents worry about the same thing.

And the evidence is clear - it can seriously affect children’s mental health and wellbeing.

That’s why last week, I wrote to the Prime Minister to support a national age limit on using social media.

I look forward to working with National Cabinet and experts in this field, to develop an effective and workable solution to this issue.

Don’t get me wrong, social media and the connectivity it provides can be useful.

But currently our kids are being exposed to content they are not ready to process or fully understand.

A ban alone will not fix this issue. Technology can be circumvented, good intentions ignored, and there are a lot of complex questions to answer.

But it’s clear - the status quo is unacceptable.

It’s time we all stood up to play our own role in doing what’s right for our kids.

Turning back to the WA Supreme Court, where Senator Linda Reynolds has just confirmed a second attempt at peace talks in her defamation case against former staffer Brittany Higgins have ended without resolution.

Justice Marcus Solomon adjourned the mediation just after 1pm on Tuesday, three hours after the parties met at the David Malcolm Justice Centre.

WA Senator Linda Reynolds outside court in Perth on Tuesday.Credit: Jesinta Burton

Reynolds told waiting media she was happy to proceed with mediation, but said it looked as though the matter would be proceeding to a six-week trial as planned for July 24.

“I am disappointed, but the point that I made this morning as I came is that [Justice Michael Lee] made some very comprehensive findings in his judgment, and it is time for both parties to accept all of his comments, and I think that will help us all move forward,” she said.

“I feel for those who may have been damaged or wounded by the saga over the last over three years now.

“I think it’s time for all parties to accept all of his findings, because far too many people have been damaged irreparably by this.”

Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett also clarified previous remarks she had made regarding an admission from the current federal attorney general and finance minister that they were wrong, pointing to Lee’s findings that the warranties Higgins gave in her $2.4 million deed of settlement with the Commonwealth were false.

Good afternoon readers, Cameron Myles taking the reins of the blog as we move towards the end of the day.

And things have been busy down at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre today, where the Australian Energy Producers – formerly APPEA – conference is taking place.

But WA Energy Minister Reece Whitby came with a warning, telling the conference the oil and gas industry could “go the way of the dinosaurs” if it continued to vent greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere directly.

The Gorgon Project at Barrow Island.Credit: Lisa Maree Williams/Bloomberg

The federal government and WA, the only Australian state without a 2030 emissions reduction target, say that carbon capture, utilisation and storage has a critical role to play in the transition to net zero by 2050.

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said there was no other credible way to reach net zero without denying households energy or causing the collapse of Australian manufacturing and industry.

The recently released Future Gas Strategy locks in the energy source to 2050 and beyond, with carbon capture to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint while still selling gas to the world.

Meanwhile, a so-called safeguard mechanism will require steeper cuts in producers’ emissions every year to ensure Australia gets to net-zero.

“It’s fair to say the gas industry is not entirely happy with that, but we have worked through issues because we simply must,” King said.

“As everyone in this room is keenly aware, ensuring the domestic market remains well supplied is integral to the social licence of this industry.”

Read the full story here.

Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has just arrived at the WA Supreme Court in Perth for a second round of peace talks with former staffer Brittany Higgins and her partner David Sharaz.

Outside court, Reynolds told journalists she had just one message: “It’s time that all parties accept all of [Justice Michael Lee’s] judgments, and that includes the finance minister and the attorney-general.

“It’s time for them to admit they got it wrong.”

Senator Linda Reynolds arriving in court on Tuesday morning.Credit: Jesinta Burton

The former defence minister has been pursuing Higgins and Sharaz for damages and aggravated damages for more than a year over several social media posts she claims were defamatory of her.

Both had been defending the defamation case until almost a fortnight ago when Sharaz took to social media saying he could no longer afford to fight the action.

The trio will undertake a second round of peace talks today, with Higgins and Sharaz beaming in via videolink from their home in France.

It comes just months after a nine-hour marathon mediation failed to reach a resolution, prompting the parties to prepare for a six-week trial on July 24.

It also comes after Federal Court justice Michael Lee found, to the civil standard, that – on the balance of probabilities – Higgins’ then-colleague, Bruce Lehrmann, raped her in then-cabinet minister Reynolds’ parliamentary office in 2019.

Lehrmann has maintained his innocence.

Reynolds, the former boss of Lehrmann and his accuser Higgins, has faced years of criticism over her handling of Higgins’ rape allegation.

While not central to the case, Lee said Higgins and Sharaz “from the first moment” had pushed a narrative of a political cover-up to journalists in 2021, which he found no evidence for.