As it happened: WA news on Monday, November 25

We’re just checking back in to let you know that the warning level for the fire in Champion Lakes has been downgraded to a Watch and Act as the fire is now contained.

It is not yet controlled, so stay alert and monitor your surroundings as conditions could change. You may need to act quickly so ensure you are prepared if the situation gets worse. Read through your bushfire plan. If you do not have a plan make one by visiting My Bushfire Plan. And have your emergency kit ready.

Remember, for the most up-to-date information, visit Emergency WA, call 13 DFES (13 3337), follow DFES on Facebook, listen to ABC Local Radio, 6PR, or news bulletins.

We’ll bring you the next update in tomorrow morning’s live blog.

We’re bringing our blog to a close for the night, and will leave you with the latest from our colleagues at 9News Perth on that fire in Champion Lakes.

For the most up-to-date information, visit Emergency WA, call 13 DFES (13 3337), follow DFES on Facebook, listen to ABC Local Radio, 6PR, or news bulletins.

Thank you for joining us again, and we’ll see you tomorrow as we bring you more news you need to know, including the latest from the fireground at Champion Lakes.

A small update from the fire in Perth’s south-east now, and the warning area has been slightly expanded to include Passmore Street, Seaforth Avenue and Koorden Close.

The blaze is still not contained and controlled, and aerial support has been sent in to help ground crews extinguish the flames.

Residents in the affected area are urged to leave now in a westerly direction if it is safe to do so, with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services warning there is a threat to lives and homes.

The fire was first reported about 3.36pm today, near Mustang Road in Champion Lakes.

For up-to-date information, visit Emergency WA, call 13 DFES (13 3337), follow DFES on Facebook, listen to ABC Local Radio, 6PR, or news bulletins.

We’re getting footage of that fire from the 9News Perth news helicopter, which shows traffic banked up along Tonkin Highway while flames lick at the busy road.

The highway is now closed in both directions between Albany Highway and Ranford Road, and police are turning drivers back to return along the emergency lane to avoid the fire as they clear one side of the road.

See some of the pictures from the 9News Perth helicopter below.

The fire along Tonkin Highway in Perth’s south-east.Credit: 9News Perth

The road is closed in both directions. Credit: 9News Perth

Traffic is banking up as emergency services work to clear the scene and contain the blaze.Credit: 9News Perth

We may have closed off the blog a little soon, as we’ve just received reports of a bushfire emergency warning in Perth’s south-east which has closed Tonkin Highway in both directions.

The alert is in place for an area bounded by Verna Street, Corfield Street, Lake Road and Ranford Road in the City of Armadale and City of Gosnells.

The warning area covers parts of Champion Lakes, Southern River and Gosnells.

The bushfire emergency warning area in Perth’s south-eastCredit: Emergency WA

WAtoday understands at least one home is under threat, and residents have been urged to act immediately to survive and flee in a westerly direction.

Tonkin Highway is closed in both directions between Ranford Road and Corfield Street, and the bushfire is moving in a northwesterly direction.

For up-to-date information, visit Emergency WA, call 13 DFES (13 3337), follow DFES on Facebook, listen to ABC Local Radio, 6PR, or news bulletins.

We’re bringing our live blog to a close for the day, thank you for joining us.

Among the headlines today was the launch of the government’s 16 Days in WA domestic violence campaign, which aims to tackle the scourge of family and domestic violence in the state.

At a rally earlier today, the daughter of Floreat murderer Mark Bombara revealed shocking details about the lead-up to the tragedy, and the horror she and her mother endured when Bombara fatally shot Jenny and Gretl Petelczyc.

Ariel Bombara said she and her mother had been engaged in a “terrifying game of cat and mouse” with her father for eight weeks before the shooting.

Meanwhile, Police Minister Paul Papalia revealed he has spoken with Attorney General John Quigley about expanding family and domestic violence training to magistrates.

“I would like to see magistrates and judges be afforded the opportunity to witness what I witnessed at the [police] academy, so they understand that police training, police capability has moved and has changed, and then the courts can reflect that knowledge,” he said.

Scroll back through the blog to read more of today’s news, and tune in tomorrow as we bring you more headlines.

Until then, have a good evening and enjoy this sunny (if not slightly windy) afternoon.

A Perth woman accused of killing her partner at the weekend has fronted Joondalup Magistrate’s Court today.

Briana Thorne, 32, was arrested and charged with manslaughter after her partner, Merlin Smith was found dying on the side of the road on Marmion Avenue in Jindalee around 5.40pm on Saturday.

Briana Thorne has been charged with manslaughter of partner, Merlin Smith.

Detectives are investigating where Thorne hit Smith with a car which was found near his lifeless body. Witnesses also reported hearing a couple arguing loudly just before the tragedy.

Thorne was tearful as she appeared in court, and spoke only to confirm her name and that she understood the charge against her.

She was remanded in custody to appear in Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court in December.

Her mother, Timi Wai, told media outside court that the family was grieving.

“We miss him, we love him,” she said.

Sticking with the 16 Days in WA domestic violence rally on today, and Police Minister Paul Papalia has revealed he has spoken with Attorney General John Quigley about expanding family and domestic violence training to magistrates.

Speaking after the campaign launch, Papalia talked up the family and domestic violence training that the entire WA police force was undergoing to improve their responses to reports of family and domestic violence.

Minister Paul Papalia. Credit: AFR

Asked about how the courts deal with violent DV offenders, he suggested that training could be extended to magistrates and judges.

“I would like to see magistrates and judges be afforded the opportunity to witness what I witnessed at the academy, so they understand that police training, police capability has moved and has changed, and then the courts can reflect that knowledge,” he said.

“I’m not sure that the courts are aware or have been provided with a similar sort of training, and I’ll be encouraging the Attorney General to speak with the heads of the different courts.

“Judges and magistrates do training and there are opportunities for this sort of thing to happen.”

The daughter of Floreat double-murderer Mark Bombara has revealed harrowing details of the final moments of his two victims’ lives as she spoke at a domestic violence rally in Perth taking place now.

Ariel Bombara recalled how she and her mother were engaged in a “terrifying game of cat and mouse” with her father for eight weeks before he turned up to her mother’s best friend’s house in May, and shot Jenny Petelczyc, 59, and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl dead.

Ariel Bombara said she told police her father was dangerous.Credit: ABC Perth

“Mum received a call from her best friend Jenny, we heard Jenny telling her 18-year-old daughter to go and hide,” she said.

“My father had turned up looking for mum, and he didn’t believe her when she said mum wasn’t there so he forced his way into their home.

“We heard Jenny say, ‘Mark put the gun away’, and I remember the ice-cold shot of adrenaline and the sound that escaped my mouth akin to that of someone whose been kicked in the gut.

“It was the knowledge that after eight weeks of meticulous safety planning, eight weeks of predicting and staying ahead of his behaviour in the most terrifying game of cat and mouse, he was about to do everything we thought he was going to do to us, to somebody else.

“Those are the last words I heard Jenny say as I frantically called triple zero, while mum continued to listen to what was going on in Jenny’s house.

“While speaking to the police, I heard mum scream, and then she was wailing. The last thing mum heard was two gun shots before the phone went dead.”

The domestic violence march in Perth’s CBD today.Credit: Hamish Hastie

Read more here. 

Western Australia’s environmental watchdog has decided to subject a $100 billion wind and solar project proposed for the state to a full public assessment process.

The Western Green Energy Hub would build 3000 wind turbines and six million solar panels across 35 farms to power production of hydrogen and ammonia, mostly for export, though potentially leaving some for local use.

The project from multinational proponents would start at the South Australian border and stretch west along the Nullarbor Plain for hundreds of kilometres, reaching about 400 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie.

An infrastructure corridor is planned to the coast through the newly announced South Coast Marine Park including a marine offloading facility, desalination plant, brine pipeline and ammonia export pipeline.

When fully operational the proponent expects the “workforce, family, and service-driven population” of the area to exceed 8000. The Eucla population at the last Census was 37.

The Environmental Protection Authority received nearly 300 public submissions across seven days of initial public commentary earlier this month and based on these decided on a full public assessment.

Chair Darren Walsh said this would include a 10-week public consultation, lengthier than usual due to the proposal’s scale and potential impacts to marine and land animals and the Nullarbor Plains limestone cave system.

The proponent’s referral states about 95 per cent of the proposed 23,000-square-kilometre envelope will remain undisturbed and that it has been designed with “considerable flexibility” in mind. Chief executive Ray McDonald said on today that the proponents were “fully aligned” with this level of assessment which could inform its “avoidance strategy” and buffer zones.

Scientists remain worried about the potential impacts on the area’s globally environmentally significant caves system and the “increasing incidence of environmental destruction to make way for large-scale renewables projects in nature hotspots”.

The EPA will next prepare a scoping document to outline the environmental review process.