source : the age
WA’s top cop says officers armed with high-powered rifles is a sight we need to get used to across the city.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the new strategy was a measure of reassurance as our terror threat remains at probable.
The new, highly-visible approach, in response to the Bondi terror attack, has seen police armed with semi-automatic rifles patrolling shopping centres, markets and party precincts.
The rifles were added to the police force’s arsenal in 2019, but had been locked away until now.
“What we learnt from Bondi is that in six minutes, 15 people were murdered,” Blanch said.
“We want to make sure that if we’re training in a rifle and a weapon, that they’ve got it on their person.”
Blanch said he hoped in time the community would become more unified, and there would not be any need for the patrols.
The WA government has opened a new $4 million round of grants to help the state combat coastal erosion.
The grants are available to councils and community groups to address erosion along WA’s coastline, which continues to impact beaches in both metropolitan and regional areas.
Coastal erosion has been particularly felt along the coast between the Perth metro and Mid-West regions.
In May last year, photographs of Lancelin’s main beach, taken five years apart, alarmed the state after showing the dramatic loss of 25 metres of land.
The Coast WA program has funded more than 200 projects worth $25 million to date.
One of those projects last year included $30,000 to improve the degraded dunes at coastal erosion hotspot, Port Beach in Fremantle.
“Western Australia has more than 20,000 kilometres of spectacular coastline, and it needs to beprotected for future generations,” Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said.
The Finance Sector Union has lashed Commonwealth Bank for “dismantling” the Bankwest brand after it posted a record $5.4 billion profit in the first half of the financial year.
The union has been highly critical of Commonwealth Bank’s decision to turn Bankwest into an online-only bank and its move to bring Bankwest employees under the Commonwealth Bank banner.
After posting the profit the union called on the bank to keep Bankwest as a separate entity.
“Workers are deeply concerned about what could be lost if the agreements are combined,” Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano said.
“Bankwest jobs in WA, rostered days off, annual leave loadings and overtime loadings are all potentially on the chopping block – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“Bankwest workers have negotiated and secured strong conditions over many years. They should not be forced to surrender those rights because CBA wants to streamline its operations.
“CBA can afford to keep Bankwest alive as a proud WA brand. Instead, it is dismantling a local institution while announcing billions in profit. That decision sends a very clear message to Western Australians that the bank is putting profits before people once again.”
The union said more than 500 Bankwest workers had signed a petition calling on chief executive Matt Comyn to maintain Bankwest as a separate entity with separate employment agreements.
Emergency services were called to daycare centres across WA 178 times in the 2024 – 2025 financial year, new figures show.
And a child was locked out or inside the centre, taken away or unaccounted for 281 times.
According to the Productivity Commission’s latest report, a total of 2286 serious incidents were reported, largely relating to illness, trauma or injury, slightly up from 2154 in the previous financial year.
And from 2017 to 2018, that figure has jumped by more than 68 per cent.
Opposition Education Minister Liam Staltari said the data was deeply concerning.
“Parents expect their children to be safe and well-supervised and sadly these figures do not meet that expectation,” he said.
“The Minister has been quick to claim that the safeguards are working but when WA leads the nation on incidents tied to confirmed breaches it’s impossible to draw that conclusion.“
Mother-of-two and spokeswoman for Childcare Choice Jen Fleming said the new figures were a reminder that parents “should not be forced to override their instincts”.
“My heart goes out to all those parents who were forced to for financial reasons and who are now dealing with the trauma of realising their babies were in unsafe environments,” she said.
The new data comes after the WA Ombudsman’s annual report, released late last year, revealed childcare misconduct reports in the state had jumped by over 40 per cent.
That report showed 261 notifications were made by early education and care providers in the last financial year.
Six related to alleged sexual offences – three in the Perth metropolitan area, two in the South West and one in the Peel region.
Acting Deputy Ombudsman Alison Cameron said the increase reflected a stronger reporting culture across the childcare sector, rather than a rise in abuse.
“They’re aware of behaviours before they escalate, which is crucial. Staff are picking up some of the grooming-type behaviours earlier and have robust systems in place. That’s a positive thing.”
WA’s top cop says officers armed with high-powered rifles is a sight we need to get used to across the city.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the new strategy was a measure of reassurance as our terror threat remains at probable.
The new, highly-visible approach, in response to the Bondi terror attack, has seen police armed with semi-automatic rifles patrolling shopping centres, markets and party precincts.
The rifles were added to the police force’s arsenal in 2019, but had been locked away until now.
“What we learnt from Bondi is that in six minutes, 15 people were murdered,” Blanch said.
“We want to make sure that if we’re training in a rifle and a weapon, that they’ve got it on their person.”
Blanch said he hoped in time the community would become more unified, and there would not be any need for the patrols.
Here’s what’s happening across the country and around the world:
- ASIO boss Mike Burgess has defended his organisation’s inability to prevent the worst terror attack in Australian history, saying an internal review commissioned after the Bondi massacre backed the spy agency’s 2019 view that shooter Naveed Akram did not pose a serious threat.
- An Albanese government-appointed official stripped politically explosive sections from a landmark corruption report, removing findings that Victoria’s Labor government turned a blind eye to CFMEU graft and organised crime on infrastructure projects, including federally funded sites, at a cost to taxpayers of $15 billion.
- The FBI has released video and images of a masked intruder appearing to tamper with a surveillance camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home early on the morning of her disappearance, providing significant new evidence in a mystery that has gripped the nation and the world.
Good morning readers, and welcome to our live news blog for Wednesday, February 11.
Making headlines today, Western Australia is leading the nation for soaring rents, with new research revealing prices have climbed by two-thirds over the space of five years, pulling the state’s housing affordability crisis into sharp focus.
There are fresh concerns for rental affordability as new Cotality data shows rents have outpaced wage growth in almost every Australian jurisdiction bar the ACT.
Meanwhile, hundreds of lecturers at Perth’s biggest university have pledged to stay off campus as semester one begins over claims of unsustainable workloads, unfair pay and “draconian limitations” on work-from-home opportunities.
And, in case you missed it, Fremantle gun Caleb Serong has refused to entertain Victorian rivals, signing a bumper seven-year deal to become the equal longest-contracted player in the AFL.
The Dockers on Tuesday locked in the three-time All-Australian midfielder until 2034.
Stay with us as we bring you the news of the day, as it happens.
