yesterday 6.07pm

Today’s headlines

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Here’s today’s top headlines.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is in town, and she believes planned protests ahead of a sundowner to be held in Perth’s east on Wednesday evening show the party is gaining traction in Western Australia.
A row over noise between an Osborne Park day hospital and a gym has landed in court, with a judge forcing the temporary closure of the fitness centre ahead of a trial next month.
A bureaucratic battle over parking has put the future of a popular cafe up in the air and led to thousands of dollars’ worth of tickets being issued to coffee aficionados in Perth’s south.
Seven Network staff are bracing for mass job cuts, with up to 200 roles expected to be axed this week.
Hundreds of protesters have set fire to homes and vehicles in Belfast during a night of violent anti-immigrant riots after police charged a Sudanese asylum seeker with attempted murder after a brutal stabbing attack likened to an attempted beheading.
Mourners have gathered at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to celebrate the life of Neale Daniher, one of 11 children, a husband to Jan, father of four – Bec, Ben, Loz and Luke – and the grandfather of six with a seventh not far away.

We’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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yesterday 5.54pm

Woman dies of mosquito-borne illness in WA’s north

A Perth woman has died after she contracted Murray Valley encephalitis in the Kimberley.

Increased mosquito populations up north also raise the risk of contracting the viruses.AP

The woman, believed to be 78-years-old, is understood to have contracted the mosquito-borne illness while travelling in the West Kimberley.

Department of Health programs have previously detected the virus in the Pilbara and Kimberley after increased mosquito breeding following the region’s wet season.

Managing scientist Dr Andrew Jardine said it was currently the highest-risk period for mosquito-borne illness activity.

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yesterday 5.23pm

Thousands of trees planted for black cockatoo habitat near Mandurah

Hundreds of thousands of trees will be planted to restore critical habitat in a bid to save an endangered native cockatoo from extinction.

A forest red-tailed black cockatoo in the Holyoake zone.Philippa Beckerling

The massive conservation project will create a 10km-long bushland corridor for the Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo in Western Australia’s southwest.

The Carnaby population has plummeted in recent decades as the birds’ habitat and woodland food sources have been cleared for farming and urban development.

Without intervention the species, which is found nowhere else on earth, faces extinction, botanist Kingsley Dixon says.

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yesterday 4.43pm

WA gold miner hits back at hedge fund’s demands

The chairman of WA gold miner Northern Star has hit back at suggestions from a major shareholder that the board should run a sale process for the company.

US-based hedge fund Elliott Investment Management has been making moves to leverage the miner after it was revealed it had a 4 per cent stake in the company worth around $1 billion.

The Northern Star Resources Super Pit mine on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie. Trevor Collens

The investor recently released a presentation that urged Northern Star to sell some of its underperforming assets, as well as suggesting the miner’s share price is discounted compared to its underlying value.

However, in an open letter to shareholders shared with the ASX on Wednesday, Northern Star chairman Michael Chaney said the company’s major development projects are progressing well.

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yesterday 3.51pm

Papalia resolute in face of calls for resignation

WA Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia says he has no intention to resign, despite the state opposition calling on him to be sacked following the delivery of a damning report into the current condition of the prison system.

The report, released on Tuesday by Inspector of Custodial Services Eamon Ryan, revealed deteriorating conditions at Hakea, Casuarina and Melaleuca prisons, and led to Ryan issuing a show cause notice.

WA Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia.Colin Murty

However, Papalia said the state opposition called for ministers to resign on a regular basis.

“It’s no great earth-shattering news that the opposition calls for a minister to retire,” he said.

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yesterday 2.57pm

It’s flattening: Eagles to soldier on without Ginbey

Bailey Williams has described Reuben Ginbey’s serious quad injury as flattening, but he’s backing the inexperienced Eagles to continue displaying plenty of heart without their “barometer”.

Ginbey will miss a sizeable chunk of football after tearing his left quad in last week’s loss to Port Adelaide, but the fact he’s avoided surgery means there’s still hope he’ll play again this year.

An injury to Reuben Ginbey has cast a further cloud over the Eagles’ loss on Saturday.Janelle St Pierre/AFL Photos

The 21-year-old had been in All-Australian form, and his injury means extra heat will go on the likes of Tylar Young, Rhett Bazzo and potentially Brandon Starcevich to hold down the key defensive posts.

West Coast are still without Harry Edwards, who has suffered three concussions in 2026, while Jeremy McGovern (concussion) was forced to retire last season and fellow star back Tom Barrass was traded to Hawthorn the previous year.

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yesterday 1.33pm

One Nation have ‘nothing to offer the people of Western Australia’: Cook

Staying with Pauline Hanson’s visit, and WA Premier Roger Cook has hit out at the right-wing party, saying One Nation’s core business is to spread division, hatred and fear in the community

Hanson is due to arrive in WA on Wednesday ahead of a scheduled sundowner at the Crooked Spire in Midland.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Cook said he had no concerns about the event quickly selling out of tickets.

“We welcome Pauline Hanson to Western Australia, but One Nation, they talk up a big game,” he said.

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yesterday 1.02pm

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is en route to Perth today, riding high atop a surge of popularity with recent polls putting the right-wing party slightly ahead of Labor on first-preference votes.

Hanson is due to speak at a sold-out event at the Crooked Spire in Midland this evening, with an open agenda sure to touch on the budget, negative gearing, as well as the One Nation classic of migration.

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson.Dominic Lorrimer

And the event is already drawing controversy, with a protest planned in Midland this afternoon ahead of Hanson’s arrival.

Speaking to Radio 6PR’s Simon Beaumont ahead of flying to Perth, Hanson said people had a right to have their say on politics, but said protests targeted at One Nation were often “full of aggression”.

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yesterday 11.59am

Driver dies after South West crash

By

Police are calling for the public’s help for any information about a crash in WA’s South West on Friday, May 29, after the driver died in hospital this week.

The man’s silver Holden Commodore was travelling north on Old Coast Road in Australind when the driver lost control and struck a tree near Paris Road.

The 42-year-old was taken by the RAC Rescue Helicopter to Royal Perth Hospital, but died on Tuesday.

Now, police are calling on anyone who saw the crash, or the silver Commodore beforehand, to contact Crime Stoppers.

Western Australia has had a grim year for road fatalities, with Road Safety Commission data revealing 102 people had died on our state’s roads so far in 2026 – well ahead of the five-year average of 76.

Of those deaths, 52 were in WA’s regions.

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yesterday 10.59am

Julie Bishop’s scathing resignation letter from ANU

Former federal Curtin MP and one-time deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has blamed “coercive threats” and “increasingly contemptuous intervention” in the Australian National University’s affairs by the university regulator for forcing her to quit as chancellor.

Former ANU chancellor and WA MP Julie Bishop.Tony McDonough

In her resignation letter tendered to parliament this week, Bishop said the unprecedented intervention by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) meant she could no longer continue in the role.

The former foreign minister commenced as ANU chancellor in 2020 for a three-year term, and was then reappointed to continue until the end of 2026; last month, she quit the role seven months early, a move welcomed as a chance for the battered institution to rebuild and move on from the controversy that defined her leadership.

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As it happened: WA news on Wednesday, June 10