As it happened: WA news on Wednesday, August 7

That’s all from us for tonight, but we leave you with a nice story: about passionate Perth souls fostering community, reducing waste and combating living costs, all from one giant yellow shipping container.

The Collective Shed library of “tools and things” is now open: volunteer group The Vic Park Collective’s most ambitious project.

The Collective Shed library of “tools and things”.

It’s brimming with power and garden tools, and kitchen, craft and camping items, which for $40 or $60 a year an individual or a family respectively can loan for up to a week.

The Shed has cost $100,000 and 1000 volunteer hours; a crowdfunding campaign raised more than $40,000 seed funding and this grassroots support gave other donors and grantors the confidence to back the project.

The first items loaned were to local resident Rob, who borrowed a lawnmower and whipper snipper.

Next out the door was a Cricut Maker, a computer-controlled cutting machine.

“The average power drill is used for about 20 minutes in its life,” says Chairperson Jethro Sercombe.

“When all of us buy all the things, it’s expensive, we create clutter in our lives and eventually, more rubbish.

“Tool libraries are popping up all over the world.”

Volunteers will open the library weekend mornings and Wednesdays. Info at www.collectiveshed.com.

That’s all from us for now; thanks for reading the blog today, and we’ll see you back here in the morning.

In the WA Supreme Court, Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has been quizzed about uttering the words “lying cow” in front of her parliamentary staff during a broadcast of Brittany Higgins’ tell-all interview.

During cross-examination by Higgins’ lawyer Rachael Young, Reynolds repeatedly rejected assertions she knew the comment would be heard by multiple staff and would adversely impact the credibility of Higgins’ allegation she was raped at Parliament House.

And Young continued to grill Reynolds about the fact she failed to apologise to her former staffer for the comment until weeks after it was made and two days after the comment was leaked to The Australian newspaper.

“Apologising for lying about me? No, I didn’t,” Reynolds told the court.

“I made it very clear in this [media statement], that I have never questioned her account of her sexual assault. I didn’t, and I still don’t, doubt her account of the sexual assault. This was about the statements about me. I don’t know how I could have made it clearer.”

Reynolds later settled a defamation action with Higgins over the comment, which former prime minister Scott Morrison said were “inappropriate and wrong” and “offensive”.

The former defence minister agreed the comment led to calls for her resignation and conceded it made her role in the defence portfolio untenable.

Young also pressed Reynolds on how much of her heightened stress and subsequent public breakdown was attributable to her fear of the comment leaking to the media.

The cross-examination continues.

The state government has today opened a new medical facility aimed at helping patients fight antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’.

Phage WA will develop therapies to help critically ill Western Australians battling infections that no longer responded to antibiotic treatment.

Bacteriophages, or phages, are naturally occurring ‘friendly’ viruses which attack bacteria by injecting their DNA into bacterial cells.

Phage therapy has the potential to treat antibiotic-resistant superbugs such as lung, skin and ear infections as well as bacterial infections like Golden Staph and cystic fibrosis.

The facility has been supported by $645,000 from the state’s Future Health Research and Innovation Fund, in addition to a $1.9 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Medical Research Future Fund.

Taryn Barrett is the mother of a nine-year-old boy, Connor, with cystic fibrosis and said the new facility represented a lifeline for families like hers.

Connor has already had to undergo 180 weeks of oral antibiotics, 28 weeks of nebulised antibiotics and two weeks of IV antibiotics.

“So it’s very scary that he will build up a resistance to those antibiotics as time goes on, and you just don’t want him to run out of options,” she said.

“That’s why phage therapy is so important to our community.

“It represents ... a chance for our children to overcome the obstacles that they will face in the future and hopefully have a very long, happy life ahead.”

Sticking with question time and opposition leader Shane Love has labelled a press conference earlier this week on the state government’s gun buyback as a “political media stunt”.

Love has asked Police Minister Paul Papalia, who attended the conference, how much it cost to ‘truck the guns in’, and who would foot the bill.

The opposition has asked how much this “media stunt” cost. Credit: WA Police

Papalia did not directly answer the question, instead accusing Love of using language that was causing “unnecessary division and anger and in some cases threats of violence against me and other people and a potentially elevated threat level to police”.

“You should consider what happened at Wiembilla not that long ago, and consider the nature in relation to your language in relation to laws that are designed to make the community safer,” he said.

Under WA’s tougher new gun laws, which will come into effect in March, many licensed firearm holders will no longer be able to legally possess a firearm. A state government buyback scheme, which ends at the end of this month, has so far seen 20,000 handed in.

Around 70,000 guns remain in the community.

To WA parliament now where question time is underway.

In response to a cost-of-living question, Premier Roger Cook has spoken of the joint state ($400) and federal ($350) electricity credits promised to households in the last respective budgets.

Premier Roger Cook in Parliament today.

Half of the credit ($350) has already been received by most West Australians.

“I know this credit will make a real different for Western Australians,” Cook said.

“It means freeing up money for junior sport, school holiday activities, and perhaps even that much sought after Harley Reid jersey ... who wrote these notes?”

Cook then joked the comment would upset his deputy Rita Saffioti, a well-known Fremantle Dockers member sitting beside him who quipped, “I’ve never been so insulted in my life”.

A traditional owner and Kimberley tourism operator say they led authorities to four illegal fishing boats intercepted off the coast of WA.

Dambimangari man Adrian Lane told the ABC he was monitoring mangroves at Kuri Bay, about 370km north of Broome, on Monday evening when he spotted the first illegal boat.

Lane met up with Kimberley tourism operator Peter Tucker and the pair reported the find to border officials, who arrived in the area on Tuesday morning to find another three illegal vessels, the ABC reported.

Tucker said he has seen illegal fishing boats in the area for “a while”.

“Border Force have come up here once or twice and have had no luck, and we’ve been a bit frustrated because we continue to see them,” Tucker told ABC.

“We bump into them, we ring Border Force, nothing happens. But the Australian Navy happened to be in the area, they responded to a call and they … with our assistance, reacted swiftly.”

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher earlier confirmed four illegal boats were intercepted off WA’s coast.

The Australian Border Force said the Maritime Border Command intercepted a single vessel and, following further enquiries, another three foreign fishing vessels.

Champion West Coast Eagles wingman Andrew Gaff has today informed teammates and supporters that he will not continue playing into his 15th season.

Gaff, a veteran of 278 senior matches, was drafted with selection number four in the 2010 draft.

Andrew Gaff of the Eagles passes the ball during a 2023 match.Credit: Getty Images

While a degenerative ankle injury has impeded his output in the last two seasons, restricting his impact to just three senior games in 2024, he has guided the next generation of players.

The club intends for Gaff to play against North Melbourne in Hobart on Saturday and to then play a farewell game in front of the Eagles faithful against Carlton at Optus Stadium on August 18.

This will enable him to reach and become eligible for AFL life membership, where the requirement is to play a total of 300 matches – a feat Jack Darling achieved earlier this season.

“Andrew has been an amazing contributor to our club for a decade and a half and we will take the opportunity to appropriately acknowledge him in the next two weeks,” football general manager Gavin Bell said.

“It will be sad to see one of our great players end his career, but Andrew leaves a lasting legacy. He is highly respected across the football club, not just within the playing group and the football department.”

Back again to Senator Linda Reynolds’ defamation case against Brittany Higgins in the WA Supreme Court, and the former defence minister has compared herself to a “punching clown” while detailing the impact of claims she covered up Higgins’ alleged rape.

From the witness stand, Reynolds told the court the saga and the unrelenting barrage of press coverage that followed had taken a toll on her and those within her orbit, including her elderly parents – perpetuated by the social media posts published by Higgins and Sharaz.

Linda Reynolds is suing Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz in the WA Supreme Court.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“It was just part of the pile-on,” Reynolds told the court. “I felt like one of those punching clowns at the fairground – you get punched down and punched down again, and you have to get up smiling.

“They keep reminding the public of the lies about me, the media keep reporting it and it keeps doing damage to me and the people I love over and over again.”

When asked to review a post published by Higgins with a quote that read ‘I won’t stay silent so you can stay comfortable’, Reynolds became visibly upset.

“I can assure you that I’m taking these proceedings, putting everything on the line, including my house of 40 years, to be heard and seek some justice,” she told the court.

“I’m not doing this to ‘stay comfortable’. That ain’t comfortable.”

Higgins’ lawyer Rachael Young SC will begin cross-examination within the hour.

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has allayed fears Josh Treacy is battling a serious knee injury, saying the key forward is still a chance to play Geelong at Optus Stadium on Saturday.

Treacy limped off in the final quarter of Sunday’s one-point loss to Essendon at the MCG after his knee collided with an opponent.

Treacy during the round 21 match with Essendon at Melbourne Cricket Ground at the weekend. Credit: Getty Images

Although Treacy was able to play out the game, there was speculation the injury may have been more serious than first thought.

Longmuir told media on Wednesday the injury was “not significant” but would be “touch and go” for this week.

“He’s a little bit sore, but we haven’t given up hope,” he said.

Treacy has kicked 45.15 in a breakout season.

If he is ruled out, Pat Voss or veteran Matt Taberner could replace him.

Longmuir confirmed a sore Sean Darcy will face Geelong despite the ruckman’s lacklustre display against Essendon, which kicked the winning point.

It was a week after he copped hits to the head and shoulder in a bruising western derby win over West Coast.

“He’s not 100 per cent, but he’s good to go,” Longmuir said.

The return of Nat Fyfe from suspension will help bolster Fremantle’s midfield.

Fremantle will battle to win back their top-four position from their current sixth spot.

WA Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has detailed the moment she heard a recording of a meeting between former staffer Brittany Higgins, her husband David Sharaz and journalist Lisa Wilkinson ahead of Higgins’ tell-all interview on The Project, saying it was the first indication the attack was “premeditated and personal”.

The recording of the five-hour pre-interview briefing on January 27, 2021 was aired in 2023 during Bruce Lehrmann’s unsuccessful defamation trial against Network Ten and Wilkinson over its segment detailing Higgins’ allegation she was raped in Reynolds’ parliamentary suite and that it was part of a political cover-up.

Lehrmann, who was not identified by name in the broadcast, maintains his innocence.

In it, Sharaz was heard recounting how Brittany Higgins had said “best-case scenario, Linda Reynolds” when asked what she wanted out of going public with her allegation.

When asked whether she remembered the moment she heard the recording, Reynolds told the court she would remember it until the day she died.

“I heard it during the defamation case and there was extensive reporting of the evidence, including the transcript of a very long pre-interview session done with Lisa Wilkinson.

“Until that point, I hadn’t believed there was malice in it, but hearing it [the recording], it was clear it was premeditated and personal against me.

“I had blamed Labor, but I had no idea of just how well-prepared this plan was. They [Higgins and Sharaz] had a package for the media, for the #MeToo movement, a package for disaffected Liberals... it was premeditated and it was personal.”

Both Higgins and Sharaz have rejected allegations they were involved in a campaign of harassment via the media.