As it happened: WA news on Tuesday, April 30

It seems our sunny autumn days have come to an end, with a severe thunderstorm warning issued for the Perth metropolitan region this morning.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the weather was not unusual for this time of year but could damage homes and make travel dangerous.

“A middle level trough is generating thunderstorms over the Central West and Lower West this morning, with the potential for localised heavy rainfall,” a spokesman said.

“Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours.”

Locations which may be affected include Gingin, Jurien Bay and Lancelin.

Overnight, the Australian Institute of Criminology has released its annual homicide report, with Western Australia having the second-highest death rate in the country, after the Northern Territory.

The report showed, in 2022-23, WA recorded 42 homicide deaths – 22 of the victims were men, 19 were women, and one’s gender was not identified.

For most of the deaths, WA failed to categorise the relationship between the victim and killer, with 19 incidents listed as ‘relationship not stated’; however eight were listed as domestic, six were listed as stranger, five were intimate partner and three were acquaintance.

Western Australia was the only state in the nation to not provide the report writers with data on where the killings took place and the motives.

Instead, WA Police only revealed 16 of the homicides occurred in a residence, 15 in the community and 7 under an ‘other’ category, citing the need to limit identifying information.

The most common motive listed by other states was a domestic, or general argument.

An update now on the tragic news we brought you yesterday that a woman’s body had been found inside her Yangebup home.

The 78-year-old’s son, who lived with her, has since been charged with her murder.

The 54-year-old will appear in Fremantle Magistrate’s Court this morning.

It’s alleged he murdered the woman sometime between Saturday and Monday.

We’ll bring you more on this case throughout the day.

Read the full story here.

Our country’s leaders have begun to react to the story we broke yesterday about how one of the men accused of a violent home invasion against an elderly Perth couple in April had been released from detention after last year’s landmark High Court ruling.

Industry Minister Ed Husic says he is deeply concerned about the attack on Ninette and Philip Simons inside their Girrawheen home, allegedly by former detainee Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, 43 who was released from Yongah Hill detention centre in November.

Speaking on ABC, Husic said ministers will have more to say about the couple who were attacked.

“We are deeply concerned about what we have seen. We have had to respond to a court decision that required the release of those detainees and put in place measures to be able to protect the Australian public as much as we possibly can,” he said.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has labelled the incident a disaster.

“Sadly, it’s victims like we’ve seen in Perth … who are paying the price for the incompetence of the Albanese government and the two ministers. Minister [Andrew] Giles and Minister [Clare] O’Neil are missing in action,” Dutton told the Today Show.

“They should be on your program this morning explaining what’s happening and apologising and giving you an assurance that it won’t happen again.”

And Senator Jacqui Lambie has questioned why Damshidi Doukoshkan wasn’t being monitored.

The federal government rushed through laws to impose curfews and electronically monitor detainees after the High Court found last year that indefinite detention for detainees who could not be deported was illegal. The electronic monitors are still being rolled out.

“They broke their curfew, so that would have been the first warning they should have been put behind bars,” Lambie said on Today.

“Why is he out on the street? That poor lady is going to be shaking every time she opens the front door … to go through that psychologically, it’s going to take her a lot to try and get through this.”

• The number of pro-Palestinian campsites at the nation’s universities has grown to four, including a university in Perth, as Jewish groups claim they are turning campuses into no-go areas for Jewish students and academics.
• The prime minister must tackle Australia’s substantial problems with alcohol, gambling and children’s access to pornography if he wants to protect women, says an expert who helped shape the national plan to stop domestic violence.

• Chris Dore, the former editor of The Australian who resigned after allegedly making lewd comments to women, has been promoted to Seven’s top role in Perth in the post-Lehrmann reshuffle at Seven.
• City-dwellers usually need to earn much more than their current wage to afford a home at the median house price in capital cities but would be better placed if they moved to the regions.
• Australian swimmers will need to hit historic heights if they are to make an impression come the Paris Olympics. That is the belief of leading sport data analysts and researchers, who have revealed even the time that earned Emma McKeon gold medal glory in Tokyo had no certainty of replicating those feats.
• Nine-time Grammy- and dual Oscar-winner Billie Eilish will return to Australia to tour her coming album Hit Me Hard and Soft.

It’s about time - the state is desperate for some rain and today is the day.

The forecast for the city is heavy showers, with rain continuing for at least the next couple of days.

Good morning and welcome to WAtoday’s daily news blog.

I’m Heather McNeill, deputy editor, and I’ll be with you this morning as we keep you up to date with all that’s happening in our amazing state.

We kick off this morning with a look at how Perth’s neighbourhoods are being reshaped as our population ages. The baby boomer population is moving into retirement and millennials and generation Z continue to have smaller families. The number of Perth suburbs where deaths outnumber births sits at 26. Use our interactive graphic to see what’s happening in your suburb.

Meanwhile, the newest kid on Western Australia’s aviation block has been given access to generous government airfare subsidies as the government brings back cheaper flights for tourists wanting to visit the north west.

And sadly, yesterday we learned a woman had died in Yangebup, with her son this morning charged with her murder.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest news of the day.