As it happened: WA news on Tuesday, September 3

We leave you this evening with a final piece of news: that WA’s Education Minister Tony Buti has weighed in on an unprecedented mass exodus from Edith Cowan University’s governing body last week.

Five members of the body quit at the same time – an incident now being investigated by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.

Buti said his office had been in touch with the university, and he believed they had left over issues related to the election of new chancellors but did not want to go into further detail until he had been briefed.

“Obviously something must be wrong if five council members have resigned,” he said.

“I just plead with the university to get their act together. They’re mature, intelligent human beings, and I would hope that they can work out the issues.

“It shouldn’t be that hard.”

Tomorrow is looking cold, with showers and possibly hail along the coast in the south west land division.

A cold front will race across the south west of the state, while out towards the east there will be very strong winds.

It was an impassioned statement designed to honour Brittany Higgins’ fight for agency.

But Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds’ lawyer has pointed out the excerpts of Higgins’ 2021 speech read to the court in the pair’s defamation row were actually penned by her now-husband David Sharaz and Sky News anchor Peta Credlin.

On Tuesday, Higgins’ barrister Rachael Young SC concluded her final address by telling the WA Supreme Court it wasn’t until the former staffer’s tell-all interview, two years after her alleged rape in Parliament House, that she found her agency.

In the spirit of honouring that agency, Young recited portions of a speech the former staffer delivered to the press shortly after breaking her silence in February 2021.

But Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett cautioned the court against relying on it, showing the court correspondence demonstrating Higgins’ now-husband David Sharaz had drafted the speech and sent it to Credlin to edit as she saw fit.

“It needs to be treated with caution. What appears to be Higgins’ voice is the voice of people jumping on a bandwagon,” Bennett told the court.

Bennett began his closing submissions by claiming Higgins levelled an “unprovoked attack underpinned by visceral hatred”, was based on a “litany of lies”, to bring the former defence minister down.

Reynolds made a surprise appearance just before 11am, sitting in the front row of the public gallery before Bennett lambasted Higgins for, from her new home in France, “arrogantly” trivialising his client’s suffering.

Bennett is expected to conclude his final address on Wednesday.

Lehrmann has maintained his innocence since the 2022 criminal trial was aborted due to juror misconduct, but a Federal Court judgment found, on the balance of probabilities, that he did rape Higgins. Lehrmann is now appealing this ruling.

Police are urgently seeking the public’s assistance to find Egan Chong, 22, who was last seen about 11.45amtoday in the area of Ochiltree Way in Kardinya.

He is about 165cms tall, with a slim build, and short black hair. He was last seen wearing a dark grey army coloured jacket, a grey t-shirt and grey tracksuit pants with yellow sneakers.

Egan Chong is missing. Credit: WA Police

Concerns are held for his welfare as he lives with autism and is non-verbal.

Police urge anyone who sees him or who has information relating to his whereabouts, to contact police immediately on 131 444.

In some more education news, Mt Lawley Senior High School has officially opened 20 new classrooms and STEM facilities today through a $15 million state funding boost.

Before, the school had capacity for 1700 students but actually had 2000 enrolments this year.

It can now take 2200, so has some breathing space.

The new two-storey building includes a space used for robotics and technologies and a digital studio for graphics and media production programs.

Education Minister Dr Tony Buti said he wanted all students and staff in WA to be teaching and learning in the very best facilities.

Warning: This story carries the name of a deceased Indigenous person.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government will not intervene in youth justice systems in states and territories, following the suicide death of 17-year-old Indigenous boy at the Banksia Hill Detention Centre south of Perth last week.

Speaking in Perth, he confirmed Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy toured the troubled facility on Monday to see the issues firsthand.

He said he had also discussed the boy’s death with WA Premier Roger Cook on Sunday and that every Australian would be concerned about any death in custody but that states were best placed to handle youth justice.

“What I say is to the call that was there for somehow the Commonwealth from Canberra to run juvenile justice in states and territories is not the way forward,” he said.

“States and territories, people closer to the ground are in a better position to deliver those services, but the Commonwealth, of course, will always play a constructive role.”

The 17-year-old is the second to die in WA’s youth justice system in the space of 10 months following the death of 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd in the Unit 18 youth justice wing in October last year.

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 13YARN (13 92 76). In the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).

The principal from our 11.32am post has been confirmed as Paul Whitehead of Bold Park Community School.

Acting principal Felicity Kinsella said the school had been made aware of last week’s arrest and charges.

Paul Whitehead, 56, is facing child exploitation charges.Credit: Facebook

“At Bold Park Community School the wellbeing and safety of our students is our priority,” she said.

She reiterated police comments that there was no evidence at this time that any student of the college was depicted in the material.

“Mr Whitehead’s employment with the school has been terminated,” she said.

“This situation is obviously a shock for our close-knit school community, and we respectfully ask
that the privacy of our staff, students and their families is respected at this time.

“The Bold Park Community School team remains focused on ensuring our students receive a nurturing, safe and quality education experience.”

Whitehead has been on a combination of long service leave and study leave from the start of April, that is, long before the school was aware of the investigation, and was due to return in Term 4. Kinsella has been acting in the role for the past six months.

In a press conference this morning, Education Minister Dr Tony Buti said the charges were “very concerning”.

“He’s been sacked. Now it’s a criminal matter. I’ll leave it at that … but he can no longer teach in Western Australia,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has visited Mount Lawley Senior High to sign the school resourcing agreement we reported at 9.19am, under which the Commonwealth will pump $785.4 million in extra cash from 2025 to 2029 into WA public education – though the other states are being “a bit stubborn”.

The WA government will match that funding, which will mean school resourcing will total $1.6 billion and for the first time reach the standard outlined by the Gonksi review completed more than a decade ago – according to our state and federal governments, that is.

Albanese in Mt Lawley today.Credit: Hamish Hastie

The visit signalled that election mode is well and truly in full swing. After the very lengthy press conference, Albanese walked out to a crowd of students eager to get selfies with him. A staff member yelled at the students to put their phones away.

During the conference (video in our 10.21am post) Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the other states were being “a bit stubborn” over public school funding.

Clare and the state’s Education Minister Tony Buti spruiked the new deal which will see the federal government increase its share of funding from 20 to 22.5 per cent of public schools’ recommended standards and the state lift its share from 75 to 77.5 per cent.

The State School Teachers’ Union WA and its national counterpart have said the amount promised will still leave schools 4 per cent short because the funding share was “artificially inflated” through the inclusion of costs not directly related to the education of students in schools, such as capital depreciation, transport and regulatory costs.

Other state governments have refused the deal to get a greater funding percentage from the Commonwealth.

When asked whether the other states were being stubborn Clare said: “I think you could say that.”

Clare said his message to the other states holding out was if the Commonwealth chipped in and the states chip in the country could close the education gap and make a better life for all Australians.

“We’ve put $16 billion of extra Commonwealth funding on the table and if that’s delivered and that’s accepted, that’ll be the biggest extra investment in public schools in this country by the Australian Government, ever,” he said.

Detectives have charged a 56-year-old man with child exploitation material offences after searching his Ellenbrook home on Tuesday, August 27, and seizing devices.

The alleged offences occurred while the man was a principal of a Perth school.

Police said there was no evidence at this time that any student of the college was depicted in the material.

The man is charged with one count of possessing child exploitation material, one count of failing to obey a police order and one count of unlawfully possessing a controlled or prescription drug.

He is due to appear before the Midland Magistrates Court on September 17.

More to come

If you are a victim of sexual abuse, or if you have information about someone being sexually abused, please contact police on 131 444, or report the information anonymously via the WA Police Safe2Say online reporting platform.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Federal Education Minister John Clare and Premier Roger Cook are speaking about the major school funding announcement in Perth this morning that we reported at 9.19am.

It’s part of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s first major election advance into Western Australia, involving a flurry of announcements and a meeting with Cook yesterday.