As it happened: WA news on Wednesday, August 28

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Matildas star Mary Fowler says the national team’s Paris Olympics flop will motivate them for the 2026 home Asian Cup.

Australia entered the 2024 Olympics aiming for the podium after finishing fourth at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the 2023 World Cup.

Fowler reacts during a women’s Group B soccer match between Australia and the United States, at the Olympics.Credit: AP Photo/Daniel Cole

But it was clear from the outset the Matildas were off their game, losing their opener 3-0 to Germany and scraping a lucky 6-5 win over Zambia before finishing their campaign with a 2-1 loss to the US.

The poor on-field displays led to rumours about team disunity.

Tony Gustavsson stepped down as coach afterwards, with the Matildas still searching for his replacement.

Fowler said it was hard to look back without disappointment, and she had never felt that level of pressure before.

“We definitely worked as hard as we could to prepare,” she said.

“Being at home and having that home advantage, it’s very different.

“We reflect on that as a team.

“We all really want to win something with the national team.

“So having another opportunity to do that [in 2026] is really good for us.”

Fowler is in Perth for the Perth International Football Cup pitting Manchester City, West Ham United, Leicester City and Paris Saint Germain against each other.

Manchester City, featuring Fowler and Matildas teammate Alanna Kennedy, will play Courtney Nevin’s Leicester City at HBF Park on Wednesday, with West Ham playing Paris Saint Germain Thursday.

Sunday’s double header will pit winners against winners and losers against losers.

AAP

Communities across Australia will be better protected during natural disasters such as floods and cyclones under a multi-government plan to boost the country’s disaster defences.

More than 160 projects will share in $387 million from the second round of payouts from the Disaster Ready Fund, with initiatives including levee upgrades, coastline restoration, cultural burnings and mental health training.

Kununurra is one location in WA that will get a share of the funding.

The projects include a $15.7 million to upgrade an evacuation centre in Kununurra, in Western Australia, for cyclone rating.

Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister said Australians should expect more frequent, intense natural disasters as a result of climate change.

“By working with all levels of government to make significant investments in mitigation projects, we are reducing the risks and impacts Australians face during disasters,” she said.

The projects will be jointly funded by federal, state, territory and local governments. The $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund will be spent over five years, dating from June 2023.

Improving the recycling rates in WA’s mining sector has been a challenge, with about 50 million containers lost to landfill on mine sites every year.

But this figure will hopefully now drop thanks to a new initiative that aims to collect millions of beverage containers on mine sites every year.

Sodexo sustainability and decarbonisation manager Hayley Borrisow and CITIC Pacific Mining environment superintendent Nick Burkett.

Over 350 Containers for Change collection points will be provided at Eramurra mine site and village through a partnership between CITIC Pacific Mining and Sodexo Australia.

This is expected to result in 2.7 million containers collected each year, diverting more than 5 per cent of unrecycled containers from landfill.

Environment Minister Reece Whitby said the additional donations, 10 cents per container, would help schools, charities and community groups throughout WA.

Single-use plastic bags for loose fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as disposable food containers, will be banned in WA next week.

BioPak chief executive Gary Smith spoke to 6PR Mornings host Gary Adshead and said he believed half of the state had already stopped using the plastic options.

Reusable bags may be necessary soon for your weekly fruit and vegetable shopping. Credit: Aleksandr Zubkov

He said some companies had an extension period to phase out the plastic bags and containers, but that by November the majority would have stopped offering them altogether.

“Instead of a plastic container, it would be either a product made from sugarcane pulp or paper, and it’ll have a sugarcane or paper lid, so the plastic is completely gone,” Smith said.

“It’s going to be a learning curve. It’s going to be a period of a month or two where people have to get used to it.

“Then it just becomes habit, and we’ve got to get used to, to get away from this addiction to fossil fuels and plastics.”

Fremantle midfielder Hayden Young has revealed he wouldn’t have been able to play in the AFL finals, even if the team had won, after breaking his leg during Sunday’s 20-point loss to Port Adelaide.

Young thought he had suffered a corked calf during a collision early in the final term.

Hayden Young was playing with a broken leg, although he didn’t know it at the time. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

The 23-year-old went off for treatment before bravely returning to the field despite his struggles to run, and attempted to fill a role in attack given his limited capacity to move.

Subsequent scans have revealed he suffered a fracture.

“I’ve got a little crack in my fibula, so not ideal,” Young told Perth radio station 96FM.

“It was a bit of an interesting one. It sort of got a knock and just felt like a little stinger or corky and I tried to run it out, and obviously it just wasn’t going away.

“It was a little bit frustrating because the game was in the balance and I felt like we were right in it.

“Sometimes in footy you get a bit of bad luck and stuff like that happens.”

Young’s injury continued a rotten run of luck for Fremantle late in the season.

Skipper Alex Pearce made just one appearance in the final nine games after breaking his left arm twice, and ruckman Sean Darcy (knee) and spearhead Josh Treacy (knee) missed the last three games of the season as the Dockers crashed from third to 10th on the AFL ladder.

Darcy, who underwent knee surgery on the eve of the season, may require another operation after managing just 12 games this year.

Save Rockingham’s Little Penguins convenor Dawn Jecks has responded to the new little penguin research from Curtin University we brought to you in our earlier post.

The study revealed continuous exposure to high noise levels from passing vessels and near-shore construction might increase stress and interfere with behaviours.

It followed our recent report that the state government’s decision to start construction on Penguin Island during the breeding season of a decimated and vulnerable little penguin population has baffled scientists who advised against it.

Here is what Jecks had to say on the new findings:

The conclusions of this study are of great concern to all those worried about the little penguins on Penguin Island.

It shows how sensitive they are to noise and how ill-advised DBCA are to go ahead with noisy and disruptive construction work in October, at this critical time for the population.

We would urge DBCA to take note of this study, and listen to the little Penguin scientists who are advising them to delay upcoming construction work until January.

The Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions has been contacted for comment.

And to Kalgoorlie now, where WA Premier Roger Cook has castigated state-owned Synergy and Western Power over a half-day blackout last week that forced the closure of businesses and left 20,000 customers across the Goldfields and Wheatbelt regions without power.

When grilled about what action would be taken over yet another major outage in the region this year, Cook revealed he would have stern words with the state providers.

Premier Roger Cook. Credit: Fairfax Media

“I’ll be having more than conversations, I’ll be having a bit of a shouting match... quite frankly, I’m sick and tired of this, and I think the people of Kalgoorlie-Boulder are sick and tired of it as well,” he said.

It is understood the outage was caused by an energy project being injected into the grid in the state’s Wheatbelt, a task Cook said warranted much greater care and risk mitigation.

The state government has come under intense scrutiny over the outage, which comes just eight months after thousands across the region were left without power for several days in sweltering heat.

A tender process for a new 150 megawatt generator in the Goldfields area has just closed, which the state government hopes can be commissioned as quickly as possible.

And in other news, the state government has issued a fresh warning about romance and dating scams as new data shows Western Australians are on track to be conned out of more than $4 million this year.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Commerce Minister Sue Ellery urged the public to be on the lookout for red flags and not to take financial advice from anyone they have only met online.

Commerce Minister Sue Ellery warned WA to be on the lookout for signs of a scam. Credit: Holly Thompson/ iStock

The warning coincides with Scams Awareness Week and comes amid revelations two WA victims were swindled out of more than $1.4 million in the past month after helping an online love interest with relocation costs and investing in a fake cryptocurrency platform.

The two recent cases come as losses to romance scams surge to $2.9 million among 26 victims statewide so far this year, according to WA ScamNet figures.

The new data indicates the state is on track to beat last year’s record of $3.7 million.

Ellery warned those meeting others online to be cautious if asked for help with travel expenses, relocation fees, business opportunities or cryptocurrency investments.

“Romance scammers are cold-hearted criminals who will spend weeks, even months, messaging their victims, making them feel like they have formed a genuine connection, before shifting the conversation to money,” she said.

“It’s a major red flag if the love interest can’t meet in person. Remember that video calls are now being manipulated by scammers with convincing deepfake technology.”

People who have been targeted by scams can lodge a report at scamnet.wa.gov.au or call 1300 30 40 54.

A car crash along the Kwinana Freeway, northbound to Perth, has caused worse traffic then usual during peak hour for commuters.

The crash happened just before the Millpoint Road exit in South Perth. Traffic is also backed up along Labouchere Road in Como, with drivers unable to merge onto the freeway due to congestion.

Traffic is blocked in the centre lanes and drivers are asked to exercise extreme caution and patience in the area.