What's happening in Perth

ETU WA secretary Adam Woodage said his workers had not taken the decision to strike lightly.

The CCTV footage captures the moment the British YouTube star returns to the Intercontinental Hotel moments before it is alleged he bit, strangled, hit and raped a Perth woman.

Follow our live coverage of the day’s news here.

Former WA Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan and former Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly have appeared in court.

Federal Liberal MP and Member for Canning Andrew Hastie has appeared in court in a defamation case brought about by Perth property developer Greg Poland.

On Thursday, an Aboriginal man who cannot be named for legal reasons told the court that he went to the bishop’s Broome home with a group of other young men for a barbecue when he was a teenager.

The Dockers (17-2) will be almost uncatchable in the race for the minor premiership if they can secure victory over the Western Bulldogs (12-7) in Friday night’s blockbuster at Optus Stadium.

A 46-year-old man died three days after he was allegedly assaulted on a Koondoola street corner earlier this month.

The eight-storey proposal on William Street is the first approved under the City of Vincent’s new planning framework.

Follow our live coverage of the day’s news here.

Up to four grouped houses or apartments could be built without development approval under a package of planning changes the Cook Government announced on Tuesday. Where a proposal meets planning standards, only a building permit would be needed.

That exemption currently applies to single houses only. Western Australia is the only state with a clear-cut planning exemption of that kind, and the State Government says extending it to other forms of housing puts WA further ahead of the rest of the country.

Also in the package is a new deadline at the subdivision stage. Local governments would have 28 days to respond to proponents after receiving engineering drawings for road design and waterways, a stage of the process where applicants have long waited without a statutory timeframe.

The rest is a mix of legislative, regulatory, policy, and practice changes aimed at the slow points in the system. More local planning and region scheme amendments would be able to progress concurrently, which the State Government estimates could save around 12 months in approval timeframes. Structure planning and subdivision practices would be streamlined, condition clearances sped up, and the Western Australian Planning Commission would gain stronger powers to modify, progress, or cancel structure plans.

“By expanding opportunities to progress local and region scheme amendments concurrently, we will significantly reduce the time it takes to move from rezoning to subdivision and development,” Planning and Lands Minister John Carey said.

Carey said the package would not lower the bar for what gets built. “We’re also pursuing exemptions and shorter approval timeframes for lower-risk residential developments, without relaxing standards,” he said.

What it means for councils

Development approval is the point at which local governments apply their own planning policies, including things like tree retention rules which a number of Perth councils have adopted in recent years. WALGA’s model tree retention policy, revised in early 2026, works by requiring development approval for tree-damaging activity on private land. The release doesn’t say how policies like that would apply to developments that no longer need approval.

Perth has the lowest tree canopy cover of any Australian capital city, and a WALGA analysis rated WA as having the weakest protections for trees on private land of any state in the country. Most infill development in WA is medium density, with duplex and triplex projects replacing single homes and clearing the mature canopy that came with them.

The local government sector has not yet responded to Tuesday’s announcement. When the State Government widened the authority of development assessment panels in 2023, WALGA argued the changes would erode local government’s role in planning.

The post WA’s New Planning Reforms Would Let Up To Four Homes Skip Planning Approval appeared first on So Perth

Police officers and fire and emergency services personnel who trained in the past five years can now apply for a Keystart home loan with a 2% deposit and no lender’s mortgage insurance, after the State Government expanded eligibility for its Skilled Start Home Loan on Monday.

Skilled Start launched in December and was limited to people who had started or finished a formal apprenticeship, graduated from TAFE or university with a Certificate III or higher, or begun work in an eligible building and construction occupation within the past five years. The expansion adds a pathway for frontline workers who earn their qualification at an academy rather than a campus.

Who qualifies now

Eligibility covers anyone who completed training at the WA Police Academy or with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services in the past five years and is still employed in that field. Graduates of equivalent Australian policing and emergency services agencies qualify too, including Australian Federal Police officers, as long as they hold a paid operational role and are living in Western Australia or planning to move here. 

Recruits and trainees are also included — basically anyone in a paid recruit or trainee program through either academy can apply while still in training.

There are limits on who counts as frontline, though. Volunteer, honorary, and unpaid emergency services members are not eligible under this pathway. Neither are non-operational staff working in areas such as HR, finance, ICT, or administration, although those workers may still qualify through the existing Certificate III route.

“Our police, fire and emergency services personnel dedicate their lives and careers to keeping Western Australians safe, and we’re proud to support them with more opportunities to achieve home ownership,” Police Minister Reece Whitby said.

Skilled Start requires a deposit of 2% or $2,000.00, whichever is higher, charges no lender’s mortgage insurance, and applies a one percentage point discount to Keystart’s standard variable interest rate. Buyers who build pay $400.00 a month during construction and can put the first home owner grant towards their deposit. 

“Through Keystart, more early career frontline workers can access a Skilled Start Home Loan, and get into a home of their own with just a 2 per cent deposit and lower ongoing repayments,” Treasurer Rita Saffioti said.

What’s the catch?

Skilled Start caps the purchase price at $700,000 for an established property and $750,000 for a new home, an off-the-plan purchase, or a home under construction. Perth’s median house price was $938,000 for the 12 months to June, based on REIWA figures, which puts the median Perth house beyond what this loan will fund.

The expansion targets people at the very start of their careers. The Western Australian Police Union has been pointing at the other end of the service.

Union President Simone Taplin told 6PR Mornings in June that recruitment matters, but that retention is where the pressure sits. “We’ve had at least 50 retirements and 80 resignations in the last few months, so replenishing those and actually remunerating our police officers to make sure that they are career police officers is something that we need to look at,” she said.

The post Police And Emergency Services Workers Can Now Buy A Home With A 2% Deposit appeared first on So Perth

Dennis John McKenna sexually abused 29 boys while they boarded as students at St Andrew’s Hostel in Katanning between 1975 and 1990.

Plans for a sex-positive, LGBTQI+ exclusive club in Perth have been rejected by council, with councillors arguing the venue belongs in an entertainment precinct.

Follow our live coverage of news across Perth and WA here.

James Sinclair Thomson was arrested by police and appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Monday, where he was released on bail.

The defendants in a defamation trial more than seven years in the making have called for a covert recording to be admitted as evidence, arguing that “a journalist doesn’t get a better source than the plaintiff’s own voice”. 

A proposed eight-storey building has sparked fears of overdevelopment in a historic pocket of Perth, as residents accuse council of failing to protect its past.

Blue and pink fairy orchids are already out along the Loop Trail in Kalbarri National Park. Snail orchids have come up along the Mullewa Wildflower Walk, Murchison rose is flowering near Island Rock, and mulla mulla is spreading white and yellow across Carnarvon. Wildflower season on Australia’s Coral Coast normally runs from early August to early October. This year, rain across the region has brought some early first blooms, so now’s the time to plan a wildflower road trip.

The Coral Coast starts at Cervantes, just under two hours’ drive north of Perth, and runs 1,100 kilometres to Exmouth. The flowering doesn’t happen everywhere at once. It usually begins up around Exmouth and the Ningaloo coast, then moves south through the Mid West, reaching Nambung National Park and the Pinnacles in spring. 

Here are the places that you should be adding to your itinerary.

Lesueur National Park

The first place you’ll want to add sits roughly 250 kilometres from Perth, off Indian Ocean Drive near Jurien Bay. Lesueur National Park holds around 10% of Western Australia’s known flora inside its boundaries, with more than 900 plant species recorded there, including hakeas, grevilleas, banksias, kangaroo paws, lambertia, and a long list of orchids.

The 18.5 kilometre Lesueur Scenic Drive is sealed and suits most vehicles, and there are walking trails off it if you want to get out and look properly. It’s close enough that you can make it a day trip from Perth, or an overnighter, but we’d suggest taking your time and making a full trip of it.

Coalseam Conservation Park Credit: Australia’s Coral Coast

Coalseam is about 400 kilometres from Perth, roughly four and a half hours. It’s the most reliable place on the Coral Coast for everlastings, and the carpets of yellow, white, and pink flowers running across the country are why it turns up in most people’s photos of the season. Chances are you’ve seen photos of Coalseam, including a lot of the ones that we’ve used.

Two things to know before you commit to it. The gravel road on your way in can close after heavy rain, so check with a visitor centre before going. And Depot Hill, the smaller everlastings site near Mingenew that people usually go to at the same time as a Coalseam visit, is closed for the 2026 season.

Mullewa and Pindar Credit: Australia’s Coral Coast

Mullewa sits inland from Geraldton and is the town most closely tied to wildflower season. The Mullewa Wildflower Walk already has an abundance of snail orchids along the trail.

“It’s been busy as usual at the Mullewa Visitor Centre, and we’re gearing up for what looks set to be a bumper wildflower season. With early blooms already appearing and strong interest from visitors, we’re looking forward to welcoming travellers eager to experience the incredible wildflower displays our region has to offer,” said Natalie Hillier, Manager of the Mullewa Visitor Centre.

The town runs Outback Bloom, its four-day wildflower festival, from August 27th to 30th, with guided walks, expert talks, photography workshops, and the wildflower show and bushland diorama in the Mullewa Town Hall.

Just outside Mullewa, about 454 kilometres from Perth, Pindar is the place to find the wreath flower (Lechenaultia macrantha), which grows in circular formations of frilled red, white, and pink petals and appears almost nowhere else. Locals are reporting promising conditions for it this year. It commonly grows on the roadside verges, so when you’re pulling off the road, park with some thought about the plants so you don’t crush them.

Kalbarri National Park Credit: Australia’s Coral Coast

Six hours from Perth and 570 kilometres up, Kalbarri is a popular spot for many reasons, but it should be known more for the wildflowers. Blue and pink fairy orchids have been spotted along the Loop Trail, Murchison rose is out near Island Rock and along the coast, and guinea flower and purple thryptomene have both been recorded.

Access is easy compared with the inland stops. Sealed roads run to the Kalbarri Skywalk, the Z-Bend lookout, Hawks Head, and Ross Graham inland, and to Red Bluff, Natural Bridge, Rainbow Valley, and Mushroom Rock on the coast.

Carnarvon and Cape Range National Park

Carnarvon is bursting with colour, with mulla mulla currently in white and yellow, with pink and purple due later in the season. The hardy native flowers grow across large stretches of the surrounding country and are the reason plenty of people stop rather than drive straight through.

Cape Range National Park, at the far end of the run near Exmouth, is about 1,250 kilometres from Perth and 12 to 13 hours of driving. It’s flowering now with just about everything you could imagine!

What it costs and what you’ll need

You don’t need a four-wheel drive. Sealed roads reach the great majority of the hotspots listed above, and the exceptions are gravel rather than serious off-road.

Park entry fees apply at Nambung, Lesueur, Kalbarri, Francois Peron, and Cape Range national parks, at $17.00 per vehicle carrying 12 or fewer people, or $10.00 concession. Picking wildflowers is illegal in Western Australia and carries a fine of up to $2,000.00, so photos only, and stick to the marked paths. 

Remember that canola fields are private property so don’t enter those fields, no matter how good the yellow looks from the road.

Accommodation in Wildflower Country fills up through August and September, so make sure you have a plan for where you’re staying before you lock in the route.

Australia’s Coral Coast runs a Wildflower Watch page, now in its second year, that collects sightings from locals and wildflower enthusiasts on the ground. It’s the closest thing to a live map of what’s out and where.

The post Wildflower Season Has Started Early On The Coral Coast Highway: Where To Stop On The Drive North appeared first on So Perth

A British YouTuber and musician accused of violently raping a fan after a gig in Perth was an entitled semi-celebrity who cared little for his alleged victim, a jury has heard.