WA news LIVE: ‘We need more workers’: Cook wants WA exempt from skilled migration reduction

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12.47pm

‘We need more workers’: Cook wants WA exempt from skilled migration reduction

By Hamish Hastie

Premier Roger Cook has defended his request to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for WA to be exempt from a reduction in the national skilled migrant intake, saying the state needed the workers to feed into its construction and defence sectors.

WA’s allocation of skilled migrants under the state nominated migration program will drop from 5000 to 3400 places from next year as debate over the number of people entering the country heats up.

WA Premier Roger Cook has written to the prime minister to request the state be exempt from a reduction in the national skilled migration intake.

The state nominated migration program allows each state to target certain occupations it needs, allowing easier to access visas for migrants that meet those skill requirements.

Cook wrote to Albanese earlier this month urging the Commonwealth to reverse the reduction in the program, arguing the state needed it to bring in more worker to meet the demands of the housing and construction sector.

He said WA had specific needs.

“We need more workers. We need more skilled migrants coming to Western Australia, either from the East Coast or from overseas,” he said.

“Western Australia’s economy is the strongest in the nation, and we join the federal government in our ambitions to host the largest shipbuilding and maintenance hub in the southern hemisphere.

“So we need more workers, and that’s why we need the government to stand by us and continue to make sure that we’ve got a strong Skilled Migration Program.”

Cook was at North Metro TAFE in East Perth this morning announcing the new You Can Make It Here advertising campaign to drive people to enrol in low and no-fee TAFE courses.

The campaign will be accompanied by a rebranded TAFE WA website.

12.34pm

Synergy overpayments scandal ‘disappointing and unacceptable’: minister

By Hamish Hastie

Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson has unloaded on Synergy after its overpayments scandal widened last week to non-Centrelink customers.

She said $40 million of extra charges were uncovered in an audit launched after the Economic Regulation Authority unearthed a separate overpayment problem of Centrelink Centrepay customers earlier this year.

WA Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson.

Sanderson said the average overpayment uncovered in this new audit was $230 and about 174,000 customers had been impacted since 2009. About half of the customers are owed $10 or less.

“This is a significant issue and disappointing and unacceptable,” she said.

“The full extent of the overpayments became apparent because of the independent review commissioned by the state government.

“The government expects synergy to act swiftly to repay customers and provide clear and transparent information to the public.

“It does reflect poorly on Synergy that its billing and management system allowed this error to occur over such a prolonged period of time.”

Sanderson said no other issues at other government utilities like WaterCorp and Horizon were identified.

11.25am

Car crushed after smashing into tree in Dalkeith

To overnight news now, and a car has been crushed after smashing into a tree in Dalkeith.

The incident happened about 11.35pm on Waratah Avenue, with the front of the Holden Commodore crumpled as a result of the impact.

The mangled wreck in Dalkeith last night.

Incredibly, the 25-year-old male driver wasn’t seriously hurt, but was transported to hospital for medical treatment.

WA Police are investigating the crash. Anyone with information is asked to Contact Crime Stoppers.

10.30am

WA family heartbroken after dog stabbed to death at park

A morning walk has ended in heartbreak for a Pinjarra family, with their two pet dogs stabbed by a stranger, one so badly injured it couldn’t be saved.

Marcus Norton told 9 News Perth his Staffy, Molly, had to be put down at the vet due to her injuries, while his Mastiff, Chief, is recovering from being stabbed on his back.

“Molly’s harmless, she’s goes up and says hello,” he said.

“Okay it might have been daunting that you’ve got two dogs coming your way, and you panicked, I was right there, man, I right there, I was talking to you, I was calling out to you, just hang on,” he said.

WA Police said the dogs were attacked by a person using a multi-edged tool while in an off-leash park.

They were rushed to the vet, but Molly could not be saved.

A police investigation into the matter is ingoing.

The man accused of stabbing the dogs declined to comment.

10.30am

Across the country and around the world

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

Israel expects to receive all living hostages from Gaza in a single group to be transferred by Hamas on Monday, in a crucial step toward a summit in Egypt that aims to turn the ceasefire into a lasting peace.

People walk underneath a billboard praising Trump.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley’s performance rating has crashed in the latest Resolve Political Monitor with a brutal 14 percentage point fall in voters’ assessment of her performance, from plus 9 to minus 5, in just one month.
Global marine heatwaves will help fuel a wetter than average summer in Australia, as a heatwave in the Pacific nicknamed “the blob” threatens to cause intense winter storms in the United States.

10.30am

Today’s weather

10.30am

Welcome to our live news blog

Good morning readers, and welcome to our live news blog for Monday, October 13.

Making headlines today, this morning is the first big test for Perth’s newest rail line with the final piece of the Metronet puzzle, the Byford extension of the Armadale line, finally open.

WA Premier Roger Cook and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti yesterday marked the culmination of an election promise made more than a decade ago as the then-McGowan opposition stormed into power.

The line will allow commuters to take a roughly 46-minute train journey from Perth’s south-eastern fringe to the CBD.

Meanwhile, a Perth grandmother has revealed how she has become the representation of what poverty looks like in Western Australia.

“When people think of poverty, they often picture someone sleeping rough on the streets,” she said.

“But increasingly in Western Australia, poverty looks like me: a 67-year-old grandmother who once ran a thriving business, owned a home, and raised two sons surrounded by love and opportunity.”

And in sporting news, Pat Cummins admits he is unlikely to be right for the first Ashes Test in Perth next month, as he still remains at least a couple of weeks away from being able to bowl.

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