WA news LIVE: ‘An unspeakable tragedy’: NDIS Minister faces questions over Mosman Park double murder-suicide

Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Mark Butler has just held a press conference over east where he has been asked to respond to claims a Mosman Park family – killed in a double murder-suicide last week – had recently had their NDIS funding cut for the two teenage boys, who were living with autism.

It’s suspected the parents killed the boys, and then themselves, before leaving a note on their front door to call police.

Friends and one of the family’s support workers said the family had recently had their NDIS funding cut, and were struggling to cope with the high needs of the children.

“This is just an awful tragedy, I think everyone across Australia is deeply shocked by what has happened,” he said.

“I know there’s been a bit of commentary over in Western Australia about the NDIS packages that these children were on.

“I want to be really clear, first of all I don’t want to say anything that would impact a police investigation. I want to give people confidence that the NDIA is cooperating fully with the police to the extent that they have any useful input to the investigation.

“I also want to be clear that there are very clear legal restrictions on our ability, my ability, the ability of the NDIA to say anything about the packages the children were on, so I am not in a position to respond to some of the speculation that I’ve seen in the West Australian media.”

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• The chief executive of Australian security giant MA Services has moved to Dubai as corporate investigators pursue millions of dollars in loans he took from the firm prior to its collapse amid revelations of its links to bikies, as well as tax evasion, sex harassment and systemic worker exploitation.

• Australia’s median house price hit $1,280,159 across the combined capitals in December, on Domain data, and sky-high prices mean looking further afield, perhaps overseas, could be tempting for some prospective home buyers. But what does that budget get you around the world?

• A former British cabinet minister sent Jeffrey Epstein private documents about an Australian “super profits” tax on global mining companies at the height of a 2010 political fight over the ambitious scheme to raise $9 billion a year.

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog for Tuesday, February 3.

Making headlines this morning, as West Australian children head back to school for 2026, the new year has sparked fresh calls for equal access to technology – for students and teachers alike as more and more schools adopt an optional ‘bring your own device’ policy.

Meanwhile, Independent senator Lidia Thorpe will today move a motion in the Senate to condemn the alleged throwing of a homemade bomb into a crowd of Invasion Day protesters on January 26 in Perth.

“To have a homemade fragmentation bomb packed with screws and ball bearings thrown into a crowd of families and the nation falls silent, I think is an absolute double standard and disrespectful to all those families who are still traumatised and reeling in the hurt this one man created,” she said.

And Cooper Cheshire has already made the record books as the youngest-ever competitor to complete a solo crossing in the Rottnest Channel Swim.

Now, the 15-year-old has been named among the iconic open-water swim’s elite Champions of the Channel field, making him the youngest swimmer to take on the 19.7-kilometre challenge alongside international champions, triathletes and Olympic medallists.

Stay with us as we bring you the news of the day, as it happens.