WA news LIVE: Two men rushed to hospital after near drowning at Trigg beach

Two people have been taken to hospital after getting caught in a rip yesterday afternoon at Bennion beach in Perth’s northern suburbs.

The men, aged 33 and 40, were pulled from the water near Trigg Beach around 3pm on the Australia Day public holiday.

Surf lifesavers provided emergency first aid before the men were rushed to Sir Charles Gairdner hospital by St John Ambulance.

The condition of the men this morning is not yet known.

Here’s what’s making news across the nation and around the world today:

• Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and her allies are confidently proclaiming she will remain in the job as her conservative critics remain split and backers of Andrew Hastie hope Angus Taylor pulls out of the leadership race.

• Australia’s property market is a major site for money laundering, and soon real estate agents and others working in the property sector will be key to helping uncover criminal activity in the $12 trillion market.
• West Australian Maddison Inglis has chosen an unlikely gift for herself to celebrate her fairytale run from qualifying to the last 16 at this year’s Australian Open.
• And overseas, US President Donald Trump is dispatching his border tsar, Tom Homan, to Minnesota to oversee ICE operations in the state, and held a “very good call” with Democratic Governor Tim Walz, signalling a shift of strategy amid ongoing unrest and violence.

It was a showery start to the week for our Australia Day, the public holiday reached a maximum of just 23 degrees, the coolest Australia Day in Perth in more than 35 years!

Our typical January weather will be back as the week progresses and by next weekend we’re looking at temperatures in the high 30s.

Good morning and welcome to our first local news blog for 2026.

Making headlines today, a Perth man has been charged with intent to harm and making an explosive under suspicious circumstances after allegedly throwing a bomb into an Invasion Day protest crowd yesterday.

Police had to evacuate Forrest Place after a man was allegedly seen throwing a device towards the stage around 12.30pm. The object did not detonate, but Police Minister Reece Whitby said it had the potential to be a mass casualty event.

Meanwhile, today marks 30 years since Sarah Spiers went missing after a night out in Claremont in 1996.

It’s suspected the 18-year-old was the first victim of Claremont serial killer Bradley Robert Edwards, but her body has never been found, and the killer was found not guilty of her murder in 2020.

WA Police have vowed to continue to search for Spiers’ body.

And international students are paying upwards of $850,000 for a degree, with more than 583 courses costing more than $250,000, a situation the peak body has slammed as an existential threat to higher education.

The most expensive degree in Western Australia was a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery at Curtin University, which will set a student back $444,756.

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