As it happened: WA news on Friday, November 1

Thanks for following today’s live blog.

We hope you have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back online Monday.

Returning to that horror crash we reported earlier today police have now sadly confirmed the 39-year-old male driver of the truck has died.

At about 8.50am the man was driving his yellow Isuzu truck south on Kwinana Freeway when it rolled about 500 metres south of Rowley Road.

The truck smashed through the Mandurah train line barrier.

Police confirmed the driver died at the scene.

A driver has been seriously injured after a truck smashed through a barrier on the Kwinana Freeway.Credit: Twitter

The crash closed two southbound lanes between Rowley Road and Anketell Road and cancelled train services on the Mandurah line.

By 3.40pm train services were still cancelled but rail replacement buses were operating.

Head to Transperth and Main Roads WA for updates.

WA Police have urged witnesses of the crash or anyone who saw the truck before the crash to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000 or report the information online at www.crimestopperswa.com.au.

Dash-cam or mobile phone vision relating to this crash can be uploaded directly to investigators via this link: https://wapf.au.evidence.com/axon/community-request/public/kwinanafreewaywandi

The WA Nationals WA have committed to doubling the annual funding of grassroots environmental management projects if elected in March 2025.

Opposition Leader Shane Love announced his party would double the annual funding of the community stewardship natural resource management program from $7.5 million per annum to $15 million.

“This injection of funds will see more community groups, local governments, Aboriginal organisations, biosecurity groups, and not-for-profits empowered to lead on-ground environmental projects in their communities and regions,” Mr Love said at the 2024 WA Landcare Network Annual Gathering today.

Of the $60 million commitment$45 million will come from the Nationals’ revitalised Royalties for Regions program and $15 million from consolidated revenue.

An effort to get more tax out of the companies whose logos dominate Perth’s skyline – including Chevron, Rio Tinto, Fortescue, Woodside Energy, BHP, Hancock Prospecting and Wesfarmers – has paid dividends.

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A crackdown on the tax arrangements of oil and gas companies has delivered the federal budget a $4.3 billion windfall.

Data from the Australian Taxation Office, published on Friday, shows tax paid by the oil and gas sector jumped from $1.5 billion in 2021-22 to a record $11.6 billion in 2022-23.

The sector accounted for more than 10 per cent of the almost $100 billion in tax collected from 4000 public and private companies.

Chevron Australia, which in 2020-21 paid $30 million in tax on $9.2 billion of revenue, is now one of the nation’s single largest taxpayers.

Dockers great Peter Bell has resigned from his position at Fremantle just a year after losing his title as the club’s football boss.

Bell was appointed general manager of football in 2018, giving him one of the most powerful positions at the club, but in a shock move as part of a restructuring last year, Bell was shifted into the role of executive general manager of football talent, strategy and special projects.

Many people viewed the move as a demotion, with Joe Brierty instead handed the reins as football boss.

Bell said his decision to leave wasn’t made lightly, but felt it was the right one for himself and the club.

“This has been a difficult decision, but one I feel is the right decision,” Bell said in a statement.

“I am extremely proud of my contribution to the club over the years as a player, board member and on the executive team, but I’m keen to explore my next challenge and allow our list managers in David Walls and Darryn Fry to lead the club at the upcoming AFL and AFLW drafts.”

Bell started his decorated 286-game playing career at the Dockers before winning two flags with North Melbourne.

He returned to Freo at the end of 2000 and won the club’s best-and-fairest award in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

AAP

Over to the courts now and a social worker has today provided evidence at the trial of two western suburbs parents who are accused of starving their daughter.

The social worker has said they were reluctant for her to be admitted to hospital despite the significant concerns of multiple medical professionals.

A man and a woman are on trial over the emaciated condition of their daughter whose age they lied about.

The Floreat couple, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the girl, were reported to the Department of Communities by dance school teachers who claimed the girl looked emaciated and yellow.

For five months DCP workers tried to get the parents to take the girl for a medical assessment but they refused, claiming she was in good health.

By April 2020 they relented and a GP referred the girl – who was almost 17 years old but had been told she was 14 – to Perth Children’s Hospital.

Once there, the social worker told the court the parents were argumentative and dismissive of concerns, allegedly making comments such as, “BMIs are for fat people” and laughing at the idea the girl could be at risk of Refeeding Syndrome and cardiac arrest due to her extremely low weight.

The same hospital employee told the court the parents’ relationship with the girl was “very unusual” and “enmeshed”.

“They were one person almost,” she told the court.

“The way they interacted … it seemed like they could not separate themselves. If [the mother] made a comment, [the daughter] would repeat it.”

The trial continues.

A 35-year-old man has died while in the custody of WA Police, after suffering from a medical episode.

Around 2pm yesterday, the man who was facing serious charges was arrested by Midland police officers for breaching his bail conditions.

He was then taken to the Perth Watch House where he was assessed by a nurse on admittance.

Around 8pm, a change in his behaviour was noticed and following consultation with nursing staff, a decision was made to convey the man to Royal Perth Hospital for further assessment.

He suffered a medical episode while still in police presence before he could be admitted, and despite the best efforts of emergency department staff, the man could not be revived.

The death is not being treated as suspicious and a report will be prepared for the Coroner.

Let’s head to Burswood now where Premier Roger Cook has given a cryptic statement that the government is looking at the state’s long weekends, lamenting that WA’s often don’t align with the eastern states’.

Cook was joined by musicians and cricketers at Optus Stadium this morning announcing a new lineup for the rescheduled WA Day festival on November 24.

Cook also announced a new Indian festival that will take place outside Optus Stadium over the course of the West Test against India over the same weekend.

Cook poses for a photo after the press conference. For those curious, yes he did actually hit the ball. Credit: Hamish Hastie

But it was his comments around long weekends that piqued our interest.

The WA Day festival in June has been impacted by extreme weather for the past two years, which has sparked a conversation around whether a June public holiday was the best time.

When asked whether his government was considering a permanent change Cook said his government was looking beyond that.

“We’re having conversations in broad terms about the program of long weekends,” he said.

“I want to make sure that we do a couple of things, take the opportunity as a community to pause and reflect on different causes that are celebrated in each of these long weekends, but also do it in a way that doesn’t unnecessarily put us out of kilter with the east coast and vice versa.

“We’re having to look right across that whole program to see what the other opportunities are.”

When asked whether that meant permanently rescheduling WA Day Cook said it certainly meant the government was considering opportunities and options in relation to that.

When asked whether that might mean moving a public holiday to the AFL Grand Final weekend Cook was less upbeat.

“No, it doesn’t mean anything of the sort. It just means that we are looking at that to see how we can better harmonise and rationalise that process,” he said.