As it happened: WA news on Tuesday, May 7

Former West Coast champion and skipper Ben Cousins will not be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2024 and is not considered likely to be added to the honour roll any time soon.

While the question has been asked about whether it is time for Cousins to be accepted as a member of the hall of fame, the committee has not seriously debated Cousins as a prospective member, in part due to his conviction for stalking his ex-partner, which saw him spend seven months in jail in 2020.

The hall of fame will induct several new members next month, headed by the elevation of former Hawthorn full-forward Jason Dunstall to Legend status.

Character is a consideration for inductees and the hall of fame recently changed its rules to allow for inductees to be removed or suspended from the hall of fame – a change that was made when Barry Cable, then a Legend of the game, was found to have sexually abused a child by a Perth civil court.

But sources familiar with the hall of fame’s position on Cousins said he was not under consideration even before the AFL took a stand on violence against women by having a moment’s silence and players, coaches and umpires linking arms on the weekend.

Read more here.

Sticking with question time and Liberal leader Libby Mettam has just accused the state government of dragging its feet over the drafting of new legislation which will compel a court to impose GPS monitoring on family violence perpetrators.

“It’s been seven months [since you announced the proposed changes] and you’ve implemented nothing,” she said.

“Another broken promise.”

Premier Roger Cook responded, saying the laws are still being drafted.

“We’re committed to delivering our tough new legislation,” he said.

To state parliament now and the first question time since the Easter break has just begun.

Unsurprisingly, the first question from Opposition Leader Shane Love is about the schoolboy knife attack on the weekend.

Premier Roger Cook has responded by accusing the leader of the Liberal Party, Libby Mettam, of pedaling misinformation in relation to the radicalisation of a schoolboy.

Yesterday Mettam said the deceased boy had destroyed a toilet block with a homemade bomb and had planned to disrupt an assembly.

Here’s what Cook had to say;

This is a dreadful circumstance of a young man caught in the insidious bind of online misinformation which led to his radicalisation, combined with complex issues impacting on his life.

Two years ago there was a school study which led to some students misbehaving in the toilets. There was never a bomb, never a bomb, there was no damage.

It was a stunt by some 14-year-old students. It is false to claim that and the leader of the Liberal Party knowns that that was false.

The Liberal leader claims there were plans to interupt an assembly in the most devasting of ways … there is no evidence that he planned to do anything of the sort.

Now is the time for leaders of the community, particularly in Parliament, to conduct themselves as civil human beings … and not add to the anxiety unnecessarily so.

Briefly turning to mining news, and WA-based mineral sands and rare earths company Iluka Resources has issued a stern warning as China seeks to “weaponise” the supply of vital materials and discourage Australian progress.

“Rare earths are among the very few metals where China has demonstrated a preparedness to weaponise its control, chief executive Tom O’Leary told the annual general meeting in Perth on Tuesday.

China’s dominance was achieved through production supremacy as well as influence over pricing, he said.

“It’s this monopolistic production combined with interference in pricing that’s resulting in market failure,” O’Leary warned.

Iluka is planning Australia’s first fully integrated refinery for the production of separated rare earth oxides at Eneabba in WA, supported by a $1.25 billion federal loan, but shareholders are concerned about a cost blowout.

The company disclosed in February that the plant’s price tag had increased to $1.7-$1.8 billion from around $1.5 billion.

O’Leary said although there was a “significant increase in the capital” required to build the refinery, the energy transition and need for sovereign capabilities to counter interference were megatrends shaping the global economy.

AAP

This morning we published an article about the family of a West Australian woman viciously beaten by her partner who feel betrayed by the justice system after he was cleared of contributing to her death.

Instead, the cause of death of Jigalong woman, Nyaparu, 24, was found to be a heart attack suffered in the moments after she was bashed.

Describing the incident as “one of the worst, most violent attacks I’ve seen”, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has explained what occurred in this case. Listen below:

Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash has accused Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus of having “no idea” about the finer details of the Community Protection Board tasked with advising the government on released detainees.

Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the board had made the wrong decision in recommending an ankle bracelet be removed from a detainee who allegedly went on to assault a Perth grandmother.

Earlier this morning, Dreyfus was asked about the board’s independence on ABC Radio National, claiming the “legislation speaks for itself, anyone can go and read the legislation and can see the way in which this community protection board operates”.

Cash said in a statement this afternoon that this was incorrect and proof that Dreyfus “has no idea of the finer details”.

“The Community Protection Board is not referred to in the legislation. Telling the Australian people that ‘the legislation speaks for itself’ and that ‘anyone can go and read the legislation and can see the way in which this community protection board operates’ is demonstrably wrong,” she said.

“It shows the attorney has no idea how this body is working and is simply not across his brief on the issue, despite the significance. He should correct the record.

“The government has been all over the place on this issue. Firstly, Prime Minister Albanese tried to claim the board was making decisions independent of government. Then Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil conceded it was not independent.”

Male voters have turned against Labor and increased their support for the Coalition in a big political shift over the past six months, deepening the dangers for the government when it is also losing ground in battleground states, including Western Australia.

Labor risks losing office or sliding into minority government if it cannot hold key seats in Western Australia, where it made big gains at the last election.

The government has promised the state at least $5 billion a year in top-up GST payments, infuriating other states, and Albanese is making regular visits to WA to shore up support.

An exclusive survey shows WA voters have cut their support for Labor from 34 to 32 per cent since the December quarter. This compares to the Labor primary vote in the state of 37 per cent at the last election.

The Coalition has a primary vote of 35 per cent in WA in the latest Resolve analysis, in line with the result of the last election.

Read more here.

A residential builders’ lobby group has lashed the handling of the state government’s interest-free support facility for struggling builders, warning half a dozen of its members were teetering on the edge of collapse while awaiting help.

It’s been more than four months since the state announced the new $10 million facility, with the Small Business Development Commission charged with distributing loans of up to $300,000 or $60,000 per property for builders struggling to finish stalled projects.

But on Tuesday, Radio 6PR’s Gary Adshead revealed he had sighted a letter in which an applicant was told by the commission that it was unable to provide any insight into the timeframe for assessment and payment.

Home Builders Action Group chair Jason Janssen said the delay in the release of the lifeline was “frustrating” and warned the recent collapse of Collier Homes was merely the “tip of the iceberg” as its members grappled with escalating cost pressures.

“You’ve got builders finishing new jobs to pay for older ones and this will allow builders to finish the loss-making contracts,” he said.

“There would be half a dozen of our members teetering on the edge.”

Questions were first raised about the lag in the scheme’s delivery a fortnight ago, amid revelations Collier Homes’ director had applied for a loan before falling into liquidation.

Commerce Minister Sue Ellery has previously said the funds were expected to reach builders in the coming weeks, with the formal application process having only opened in mid-March.