To some tragic news now, with the death of a 35-year-old labourer at the Warwick Road off-ramp of the Mitchell Freeway this afternoon.
The man was reported to have been struck by a piece of equipment that fell and suffered a serious head injury.
He was taken by ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital, where he died soon after arriving.
WorkSafe investigators are currently examining the circumstances.
WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said any work-related death was a tragedy, and relayed her sincere condolences to the man’s family, friends and fellow workers.
Shire president says dingoes should not have been shot without permission from landowners
By Holly Thompson
Bringing you back to a story we ran this morning on the deaths of ‘dingo tour’ pair Steven and Eulalia. Murchison Shire president Rossco Foulkes-Taylor has weighed in.
The dingoes were part of tours on Wooleen Station, which educated the community and tourists on what cattle farmer David Pollock, his wife Frances and dingo researcher Zali Jestrimski say is the essential roles of apex predators in the ecosystem and regenerative farming.
But Foulkes-Taylor said he believed this view to be over-romanticized.
Dingoes Eulalia and Steve were shot and killed in September.Credit: Frances Pollock
“They are ruthless apex predators, and all the power to them, it’s in their nature, but it doesn’t gel with keeping our agricultural businesses running,” he said.
The Pollocks and Jestrimski have also called for the end to a bounty program run by the shire since the dingoes deaths.
But Foulkes-Taylor said it was disappointing they had gone straight to social media without consulting the shire council first. He said the program pays locals to kill dingoes, which are listed as a pest, but to receive the money there needs to be permission from landowners.
Back to that story we brought you earlier today about an alleged assault in Lockridge which left a man fighting for his life in hospital.
Police have now charged a 43-year-old man who was arrested at the scene with a string of offences, including grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary, common assault and criminal damage.
It is alleged the victim, also in his 40s, was attacked with a hammer in the shared driveway of a unit complex about 2am this morning.
He was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital via ambulance for treatment.
The 43-year-old charged man allegedly also forced his way inside a unit and attacked the male occupant, before damaging several power boxes and other personal property in the complex.
He is due to appear before Midland Magistrates Court today.
It was revealed today that 20 staff had quit Cox’s office in just three years, with several lodging formal complaints with the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service and Bandt’s office that alleged a hostile culture where employees felt unsafe.
Greens leader Adam Bandt after his press conference was wrapped up.Credit: Ten news
A leaked copy of a formal complaint to the workplace support service detailed several alleged incidents of staff crying and becoming distressed after confrontations with Cox, while two of Cox’s former staff went public with their claims and another eight provided details anonymously.
Bandt was repeatedly asked what steps he and his office had taken to investigate the allegations against Cox raised with his office but declined to answer because of the “personal and confidential nature of a number of these complaints”.
He would also not say if the WA senator would keep her First Nations portfolio, whether a bullying investigation would be launched by the Greens or if there would be any other consequences for the senator.
“Any time any staff member comes to me or comes to my team with an issue, we take it very seriously, and we support them to take that complaint through the independent PWSS process,” he said.
“Every staff member, whatever party that they work for, whatever workplace that they work in, is, of course, entitled to a safe workplace.”
Bandt said that if the support service made any recommendations about Cox’s office, “we will take those on board”.
However, when it was pointed out that the support services’ function was not to make recommendations to the leader’s office, Bandt said: “This is the system that has been set up”.
An adviser to the Greens leader then stepped in and ended the press conference.
Closer to home, and if you were planning on a warm shower to rinse off after a cool dip at City Beach, well, we’ve got some bad news.
At the end of last week, the Town of Cambridge announced it was turning off the hot water at the popular beach’s public showers, and lay blame for the move squarely at the feet of illegal campers.
“Illegal camping has resulted in increased rubbish in bins, litter and greater use of public facilities, including showers and toilets,” the announcement read.
City Beach is a popular coastal destination for visitors and residents alike.Credit: iStockphoto
“The Town is addressing the issue through several measures, including daily rubbish collection, the addition of 660-litre bins ahead of summer, and regular monitoring by Rangers, including review of CCTV footage, who are issuing infringements under relevant local laws where applicable.”
Speaking to Radio 6PR’s Gary Adshead this morning, Visit City Beach marketing director Vanessa Baxter said the move seemed unilateral and short-sighted, and didn’t believe it was a solution to the issue of unauthorised campers, a group which could include vulnerable people who found themselves homeless.
“In some cases there is some pretty poor behaviour around rubbish and ablutions, and unfortunately also leading to some petty crime in the area, which is impacting people coming to dine down here, coming to use the beach, and also staff,” she said.
“We do acknowledge there are issues around safety and concerns with some of the people choosing to temporarily or transitionally reside down here, but turning off the hot water to the showers for the whole community doesn’t seem like a particularly thought-through solution.”
The showers were due to run cold from the start of the week.
“A genuine solution is required, we know this is a much wider than just City Beach,” Baxter said.
“I do not believe that a quick decision by and administrator and one council to turn off access to hot water for the visitors to City Beach and for the residents of City Beach, who really appreciate having a warm shower after a swim or a sauna or a workout down here is going to actually touch the sides.”
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Shock as beloved WA dingo pair shot dead
To our state’s Mid West now, where Holly Thompson and Claire Ottaviano report that two dingoes, which were brought to a remote station to educate visitors on the essential role of apex predators, have been shot dead.
Steven and Eulalia were first brought to Wooleen Station, in the Murchison Shire, when they were still pups in March 2024 – transported by car 4500 kilometres from Queensland.
Dingoes Eulalia and Steve were shot dead in WA’s Mid West in September.Credit: Frances Pollock
The pair were loved by cattle farmer David Pollock, his wife Frances and dingo researcher Zali Jestrimski.
But on Tuesday, Jestrimski took to social media to tell the community the pair had been shot on September 24.
Zali Jestrimski at Wooleen Station with dingoes Eulalia and Steven.
Through tears, she explained they had found the pair – which were microchipped and registered with the Shire – on the side of the road.
Now, Frances Pollock is protesting against the local shire’s bounty system that could have led to their deaths.
Can WA be the ‘place for space’? The government hopes so
A bit more on that press conference we brought you earlier, where Science Minister Stephen Dawson announced the state’s Space Industry Strategy, aiming to drive more investment with the goal of WA becoming a global leader in the industry by 2035.
“We have become known as the place for space,” Dawson said.
“We do have an amazing mining sector in Western Australia, and because of our remote operations of our mine sites, the technology used to remotely operate those sites is transferable to the space sector.
“Growing our space sector in WA really is an opportunity for us to give our young people, our kids in particular, access to the jobs of tomorrow.”
Dawson said that included an increased focus on STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – in schools.
Hundreds of SKA-Low antennas across the WA outback form the ‘low-frequency’ component of the Square Kilometre Array.Credit: Cameron Myles
WA is home to a host of space infrastructure and projects, including co-hosting the $3 billion Square Kilometre Array radio, which, when complete, will be the biggest radio telescope in the world.
We also host the only commercial optical satellite communication ground network in the Southern Hemisphere.
Crossing now to a press conference with Science Minister Stephen Dawson, who is set to launch the WA Space Strategy, which details a vision for the state to become a globally recognised Indo-Pacific space hub.
Watch the press conference here:
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Staff quit WA Greens senator’s office over toxic workplace claims
To politics now, and an exclusive report from James Massola, who reveals 20 staff have left Greens WA Senator Dorinda Cox’s office in just three years, with several lodging formal complaints alleging a hostile culture where employees felt unsafe.
Several former staffers who spoke to this masthead, including two who have gone public and eight on background, said complaints to party leader Adam Bandt’s office and the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service had failed to fix the problem.
Senator Dorinda Cox in Parliament House last month.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
This masthead has also obtained a copy of a formal complaint made by a former staff member to parliament’s workplace support service, which was also sent to Bandt, his deputy chief of staff and two Greens party officials in mid-2021.
It details several incidents of staff crying and becoming distressed after confrontations with Cox, a Yamatji-Noongar woman who became Greens First Nations spokesperson when Lidia Thorpe quit the party last year. One of these former staffers moved into Bandt’s office, while the other six named in the document have since quit.
