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Damage estimated at tens of thousands of dollars has been caused by a fire at the Floreat Forum shopping centre.
Fire and Emergency Services say people had to be evacuated but no one was injured in the blaze about 8:00 pm last night.
It took firefighters about half an hour to put the fire out.
Fire and Emergency Services say the cause of the fire is still being investigated but it does not look suspicious.
The Law Society of Western Australia says while it broadly supports calls for lawyers to move away from billable hours or time-based billing, the change would be difficult to implement.
In a speech to launch Law Week yesterday, Chief Justice Wayne Martin said the process of charging clients in six-minute increments was outdated and inefficient.
Law Society President Hylton Quail says some firms have already moved away from time-billing.
“Some areas of law are better suited to lump-sum billing but I do think that in other areas it’s very unlikely that we’ll ever get away from time-based costing.
“We do know that in some areas, particularly with mum and dad clients, time-based billing can be problematic because in a sense you’re signing up to really, the length of a piece of string.”
Firefighters remain concerned about the safety of the new Wellington Street fire station with a number of incidents reported in the first week of operation.
The Secretary of the Firefighters Union Graeme Geer says on Sunday night a fire truck leaving the station narrowly missed hitting two pedestrians.
The firefighters were ordered by the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission earlier this month to move into the $12 million station.
They had refused to move in for more than a year because of safety concerns.
Mr Geer says firefighters are still concerned.
“The guys aren’t happy.
“We have a report back mechanism where we will be able to table these in the Commission and hopefully people will begin to listen.”
Firefighters have been called to a chemical spill in East Perth.
10 litres of nitric acid has spilled onto the road near the intersection of Bennett and Brook streets.
Police are proceeding to close off nearby roads.
There are no reports of injuries.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he cannot see how the Coalition could back the Government’s move to put a 40 per cent tax on mining profits.
Mr Abbott has given his strongest indication so far that the Opposition will block the tax after meeting with senior mining executives in Canberra today.
Mr Abbott has been speaking with BHP Billiton executive Marius Kloppers and Rio Tinto Australia managing director David Peever in Canberra as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd held a series of meetings with mining heavyweights in Perth.
The Government’s announcement on Sunday that it would impose a tax on the above-normal profits of mining companies has been met with outrage from the resources sector and has seen mining stocks plunge.
Emerging from today’s meeting, Mr Abbott said he could see “no way” the Coalition could support the tax.
“I reiterate that I can see no good arguments for this great big new tax,” he said.
“It is a very, very bad tax. The only way to avoid it is to ensure there is a change of government at the next election.”
Overnight London-listed shares in BHP Billiton shed nearly 8 per cent and Rio Tinto shares dropped more than 6 per cent.
The Government has accused the mining industry of running a scare campaign and Mr Rudd has indicated he will not budge from the 40 per cent rate.
“It’s inevitable that mining companies are going to complain,” he said.
“We intend through an extended consultation process to work our way through it.
“A whole range of points of view were put [forward today]. We’ll try and work through the detail of that.”
Greens Leader Bob Brown has urged the Government to stick to its guns.
“The mining corporations have far too much say in the running of this country without being representative, they are a massive lobby on both parties in Canberra,” he said.
“They have the Coalition on a string, but this Labor Government, which stands up for average Australians, should stay strong on what is a proper idea.”
‘Heavy-handed’ tax
Mincor Resources managing director David Moore says the tax will have dire consequences for the industry.
“We can only hope and pray that through the consultation process there’s is a sense returned to how this tax is applied, and hopefully the tax goes away altogether,” he said.
Toro Energy managing director Greg Hall says his company may have to reconsider at least one project.
“We’re evaluating our project in Western Australia on the basis of this additional tax regime and determining what that means for us,” he said.
WA Premier Colin Barnett says the tax should be dropped or scaled back.
“This is very heavy-handed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty says the new tax could benefit his country because investors will seek places to invest that have lower taxes.
The Perth Wildcats have signed former Sydney and Townsville forward Cameron Tovey for the next two NBL seasons.
Tovey, who started his career at the Cats, joins Shawn Redhage, Kevin Lisch, Jesse Wagstaff, Brad Robbins, Damian Martin, Drew Williamson, Stephen Weigh and Matt Knight as players confirmed for next season.
Perth now needs only to sign an under-24 development player to complete its roster.
Tovey had reportedly quit the NBL earlier this month for a career in accounting but the talented forward said that was never the case.
He will work part-time while juggling his basketball duties.
The Minister for Regional Development Brendon Grylls says the Government is yet to decide whether it will keep operating rail lines in the Wheatbelt.
The Farmers Federation of WA has presented Mr Grylls with a petition containing almost 3,000 signatures demanding the government reconsider its decision to close parts of the network.
The president of the Merredin zone Ian Lane says more than 60,000 extra truck movements will be needed as a result of the closure and that will increase the risk faced by other road users.
Mr Lane says the Government must immediately reconsider its decision.
“We intend to drive home our point to the Government that it is not just grain farmers who will be affected by this. It will be the St John ambulance, the fire brigade.
“All of these people who commit their time in the bush voluntarily will be under extreme pressure.”
Mr Grylls says he welcomes the farmers’ input and will raise their concerns in parliament.
“The real question and challenge for the government is where do you get this value for the investment, is it on the rail, is it on the road?
“That work is being done and the decision of the Government will be made.”
The Federal Government is taking a cautious approach to its new drought support policy and will trial the idea of grants in the good times in Western Australia, where no farmers are drought affected.
The Government promised that farmers in drought-affected areas who are receiving assistance will continue to receive income relief and interest rate subsidies until the drought is over.
About 6,000 farmers from Karratha to Esperance will be able to apply for relief measures under the program which will be trialled for one year.
Measures include financial grants for farmers experiencing hardship or who are trying to exit the industry, as well as a new focus on mental health services in farming communities.
WA Agricultural Minister Terry Redman says the current exceptional circumstances system does not help drought-stricken farmers soon enough.
“The current arrangements have a very reactive focus where we need to request to the Federal Government to have an area declared as exceptional circumstances,” he said.
“In essence that is two consecutive years of worse-than-one-in-25-year conditions. We presently have no declared areas and would not be eligible for that until at least January 2012.”
Mr Redman’s federal counterpart, Tony Burke, says the proposed new system will start on July 1.
“Normally the approach that governments have adopted is when times are in crisis we’re there and we’re helping out, and when times are good, the government normally disappears from the scene,” he said.
“This is the first time that we’ve decided to say, ‘hang on, when times are good, let’s not bail out’.
“Let’s actually stay there then [and] help farmers prepare for the future so that next time there is a crisis, fewer people hit that crisis.
“In terms of the wellbeing of a farmer, it’s a much better deal. In terms of productivity for the nation, it’s a better deal for the country as well.”
Forensic officers have just entered the Mt Pleasant property at the centre of a missing persons investigation.
Major Crime detectives are investigating the disappearance of a businessman who is in his forties.
He was reported missing by his sister last night.
Neighbours say the man from Bateman Road was last seen on Sunday.
The property has been on the market for eight weeks with an asking price of more than $3 million.
It is understood the missing man had purchased a property in Sydney and was intending to move interstate.
Forensic officers are travelling to the home which remains under police guard.
Extra Federal Police have been sent to Christmas Island to deal with any fallout from the Government’s decision to change its refugee policy.
The Government has suspended refugee processing for Sri Lankan and Afghani asylum seekers, although it will not affect those who are already on Christmas Island.
The Opposition’s Justice and Customs spokesman, Michael Keenan, says that could lead to tension between asylum seekers.
He is concerned other police operations may suffer.
“We’re very concerned about the conditions on Christmas Island,” he said.
“You wonder what duties [the AFP] have been redeployed from to have to go up there to make up for the Rudd Government’s failures.”
A Government spokesman says the AFP makes its own deployment decisions.
Refugee advocate David Manne has slammed the new policy, saying it could lead to a violation of asylum seekers’ human rights.
He described the suspension of refugee processing as “indefinite, prolonged periods of incarceration in prison like conditions.”
“It may well cause considerable confusion and frustration,” he said.
Last month, Immigration Minister Chris Evans told the Senate that the Government did not want to hold people in detention for long periods of time.
There are now 2161 asylum seekers in the island’s detention centre – about 120 above the official capacity.
The Immigration Department is preparing to fly more people off the island as early as today.
Two boats that have been intercepted in recent days are still to arrive.
UN reviews guidelines
The Government’s path was smoothed by the fact the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is reviewing its protection guidelines for asylum seekers fleeing from those two countries, as revealed on this program a month ago.
Doctor Sam Pari, from the National Tamil Congress, says the Government’s move will not make much difference because Tamils continue to be persecuted and oppressed.
“The only way that the Australian Government can deter asylum seekers from coming here is by looking at the root cause,” he said.
“The problem is the Sri Lankan government. The Australian Government should put pressure on Sri Lanka to start treating its Tamil citizens equally and justly.”
Refugee lawyer David Mann, who headed to Christmas Island on Friday, says the suspension will undermine Australia’s international obligations.
“This strategy is essentially designed to avoid obligations which are currently owed to people seeking refugee status,” he said.
“This strategy… flies in the face of our international obligations to properly assess refugee claims at the time they’re made.
“The other real concern here is that we face a situation of asylum seekers being held in prolonged detention without just cause leaving people in legal limbo in detention, cause profound harm and in many cases crush people.
Amnesty says the asylum suspension is inconsistent with Australia’s international obligations, but the UNHCR’s regional representative, Richard Towle, is reserving judgment.
“I haven’t had a chance to look at the policy or the implications of the policy to see how it matches with the Refugee Convention or any … other obligations that Australia might have, but we’ll be looking at those sorts of thing in the fullness of time,” he said.
“The key thing is to make sure that people who are in the suspended position are able to live dignified and humane lives while they’re waiting this period.”
A 35-year-old man charged over a double murder in Perth’s foothills is due to face court this morning.
Andre Hedgeland was arrested at his South Guilford home on Friday by detectives from the Major Crime Squad.
He has been charged with murdering 64-year-old Stefan Borsa and 35-year-old Sidney Marcel De Beaux at Greenmount on February 26th.
It will be alleged the pair was murdered over a failed drug deal.
Police found Mr Borsa’s body in the loungeroom and Miss De Beau’s in the backyard of the Scott Street house some days later.
It will also be alleged Mr Hedgeland lit the gas stove and candles in the house before he left in an attempt to burn it down.
Seven members of what police describe is the most sophisticated card skimming syndicate ever seen in Western Australia have been arrested.
It is alleged they installed an EFTPOS machine fitted with a skimming device at a Perth supermarket and used the information to fraudulently obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers bank accounts.
It is understood much of the money was laundered overseas.
Police also seized a significant amount of equipment used to tamper with ATM devices and EFTPOS devices.
Detective Sergeant Duncan Taylor says it is alleged the seven men played different roles in the fraud syndicate.
“There’s a range, we’ve certainly arrested mid to high-tier members of the syndicate on this occasion and some of the items involved in the seizure would indicate we’ve got some of the more technical members of the syndicate,” he said.
The Federal Opposition has attacked the Government’s decision to suspend asylum seeker claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, saying it is politically motivated and will not stop the boats coming to Australia.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the suspension – of three months for Sri Lankans and six months for Afghanis – is due to “changing circumstances” in both countries.
But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says it shows the Government knows its policy is failing.
“This is an admission by the Government that it was always pull factors – not push factors – that was causing the flow of boats,” he said.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the Government has known for a month that the situations in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka were changing.
“It simply prompts you to ask the question: why today?” he said.
“All they have done is try to put this issue into suspended animation. What they haven’t done is put forward a plan to stop the boats.”
Mr Morrison says the Government is putting off action on dealing with asylum seekers until after the upcoming federal election.
“They are going to clog up the system even more as boat after boat after boat arrives,” he said.
“Clearly they will just spill onto the mainland as they already have now.”
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the suspension will be as dangerous for asylum seekers as the previous government’s system of temporary protection visas.
“The decision of the Government to change their policies are less about the conditions in these countries and more about the political conditions here in Australia,” she said.
“This is about politics. This is not about humanity.”
Immigration Minister Chris Evans says Sri Lankans and Afghanis already on Christmas Island will still have their applications processed, as will those currently bring taken there by the Navy.
But he says from now on, anyone from those countries who is intercepted will be taken to the island and will have to wait until the suspension is lifted.
‘Morally abhorrent’
Human Rights Commission president Catherine Branson says the Government’s changes mean asylum seekers will be detained indefinitely.
She says the commission is considering another visit to Christmas Island to monitor the conditions there.
“We did late last year publish a quite comprehensive report about Christmas Island, but I am very conscious of the fact that conditions there have changed since that time and not for the better,” Ms Branson said.
“We are considering the possibility of again travelling to Christmas Island to update our report.”
Bassina Farbenblum, the director of the University of NSW Migrant and Refugee Rights Project, says the Government’s move breaches the UN’s Refugee Convention.
She says it is immoral to detain Afghanis and Sri Lankans for long periods to deter other asylum seekers.
“It is profoundly discriminatory. Australia will be violating it’s international obligations to detain people for the minimum necessary period, and honestly it’s morally abhorrent,” Ms Farbenblum said.
The Refugee Council says while it is not supporting the suspension, it is a legitimate response to the problem of asylum seekers provided people are not sent back to face persecution.
“This is an attempt to crack a circuit breaker and I can understand why they’re doing that, as long as they continue to adhere to the humane policies which they have supported,” Refugee Council president John Gibson said.
“We will just have to keep a very close eye on what’s going on.”
Mr Gibson says he is concerned the Government’s decision has been made without proper scrutiny of the conditions in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
He says there needs to be lasting improvement before refugees from those countries are treated any differently.
“When there is a change of circumstances it should be sustainable and durable, and as far as Sri Lanka is concerned – and possibly some parts of Afghanistan – one would have to look carefully at whether in fact that is the case,” Mr Gibson said.
And he says the hysteria that has taken hold of Australians over the asylum seeker issue remains.
“I’d like to see the shift and focus towards the positive solutions, looking globally and regionally, rather than this obsession over how many boats arrive,” he said.
He says the number of asylum seekers accepted in Australia still pales in comparison to those accepted in other countries.
Tasmanian cricket selector Glenn Hughes has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually assaulting a woman in Perth.
Mr Hughes is facing two charges of assaulting the woman, at a hotel the beachside suburb of Scarborough in October last year.
He appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court today via a video link from Hobart.
Mr Hughes bail was renewed and he is due to appear in the District Court in Perth in June.
He has been stood down by Cricket Tasmania.
The State School Teachers Union of WA says a ballot will be held on Monday on whether to boycott the national literacy and numeracy, NAPLAN, tests.
The union is concerned test results could lead to the publication of school league tables.
The State Union President Anne Gisborne says results from a vote on Monday will determine whether a boycott should be enforced.
“We have got major concerns, professional and ethical, that go to the misuse of this data.
“We don’t think that the continuation of this testing and enabling it to the abused and the negative impact on schools, students, school communities, teachers and administrators.”
Federal Education minister Julia Gillard says the government is planning to publish results from the NAPLAN tests on its My School website.
The union is concerned the publication of results will lead to school league tables.
Ms Gisborne says the union cannot support the misuse of student test results.
“We will again be getting an update with respect too Ms Gillard’s responsiveness to taking action to prevent the NAPLAN date being turned into league tables, and on the basis of that update we will then make a decision as to what action we will take around the 2010 NAPLAN testing.”
Health experts say obesity is quickly becoming Australia’s biggest public health challenge.
A new study has found obesity has overtaken smoking as the leading cause of preventable diseases in Western Australia.
Health experts have described the figures as alarming and say the obesity epidemic has now reached crisis point.
Australia has one on the highest rates of obesity in the world, with more than 60 per cent of adults and one in four children overweight or obese.
Professor Mike Daube, the president of the Public Health Association of Australia, says the epidemic is on the rise.
“We’re aware of the problem [but] we’re not doing enough about it,” he said.
“It’s taken us 60 years since we knew about the dangers of smoking to get to this fairly encouraging decline. We need to move faster than that on obesity.”
Professor Daube says the Federal Government spends just 2 per cent of the country’s health expenditure on prevention, which is not enough.
He says there should be more health and physical education in schools, as well as a curb on junk food advertising.
Tim Gill, the principal research fellow at the Boden Institute of Obesity Nutrition and Exercise at University of Sydney, says Australia has been slow to respond to the obesity problem.
“When we had the alarm bells ring 15 years ago very, very little was done and it’s only really in recent times that we’ve started to take this problem seriously,” he said.
“As a consequence, we’ve now seen probably a generation of young adults go through a period of time where obesity wasn’t seen as a serious issue… and now they’re the people who are starting to develop these chronic diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes, which is driving what we’re seeing here in terms of the cost of illness.”
Cultural change
Associate Professor Gill says there are many lessons to be learned from the successes of anti-smoking campaigns.
“We needed to get large structural changes in terms of the social acceptance of smoking, in terms of regulations about where and how to smoke, in terms of fiscal policies around taxation to discourage the uptake and continuance of smoking, and I think governments need to accept that they need to see obesity in exactly the same light,” he said.
“The need to change a situation that we have at the moment where we live in an environment where the wrong types of foods are so readily available and they are so cheap and they are promoted and made available wherever we go.”
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the Government is aware obesity is a growing and serious problem.
She rejects claims the Government is not doing enough and says major investments have been made.
“Some of our changes are being blocked in the Senate like the establishment of a preventative health agency that the Liberal Party have been opposing,” Ms Roxon said.
“We believe that the changes that are part of this health reform can make a significant difference to investing more at the front end of health care and maintaining people’s fitness.
“We are prepared to consider further steps which should be taken but this is a community-wide problem. It needs the community, it needs health professionals, it needs families and it needs the Government to tackle it.”
The findings of the West Australian study have been published in the Australian New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
The Federal Labor MP Gary Gray has rejected calls for his resignation from a resources taskforce, after a heated dispute with a union boss.
Les McLaughlin from the the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union says Mr Gray verbally abused him at a resources forum.
Mr McLaughlin has written to the Prime Minister Kevid Rudd calling for Mr Gray to be sacked as chairman of the Resources Sector Employment Taskforce.
He says the behaviour was inappropriate and unjustified.
Mr Gray says he regrets his language but doesn’t expect anyone to take Mr McLaughlin seriously.
“The capacity to have robust discussions is a hallmark of the political environment that I come from, that does not excuse inappropriate language and I used inappropriate language, I should simply have said to Mr McLaughlin he was a fool and left it at that.”
Mr Gray has apologised to Mr McLaughlin and hopes they can work together in the future.
“In my business you have to deal with all types, and in my business the one thing that you shouldn’t do is let your annoyance get ahead of you and you know last week it did and I apologised for that, I apologised to him.”
Mr McLaughlin says the apology isn’t good enough.
“I think his apology is far too little and far too late, it’s based specific to one little bit.
“I think he’s missed the point, the point was he’s direspected those workers and our union.”
The Albany City Council is under review following a number of problems within council ranks in recent months.
The Minister for Local Government John Castrilli has appointed three officers to scrutinise the council.
The John intervention follows the Chief Executive’s decision to take extended leave, allegations of bullying by councillors and a call from the Member of Albany for the council to be dismissed.
Albany MP Peter Watson wrote to Mr Castrilli last week demanding the Minister replace the councillors with government-appointed commissioners.
Mr Castrilli says the council must resolve its problems quickly or the Government will have to step in.
“As I understand it, they’ve engaged a legal firm to advise them and I’ve started a better practice review and we’ve also encouraged them to get some independent people to assist them in the management of the council and dispute resolution.
“I hope they take those very seriously because they need to sort it out very quickly and I’m keeping a very close eye on Albany.”
Mr Castrilli says he will act according to what his officers find.
“My department goes down there and they make a recommendation to me and I wait on the recommendation of my department as to what they believe is the current situation.”
New statistics reveal sheep and lamb numbers in Australia have fallen a new low.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics report shows the national flock hit 72.7 million last year, the lowest since 1905.
Pig numbers also fell five per cent, to 2.3 million.
Meanwhile, wheat and canola plantings increased significantly last year, up 58 per cent and 52 per cent respectively.
The ABS report says good seasonal conditions in 2008 and 2009 encouraged farmers to increase cropping.
The Defence Department says it will investigate why a boat carrying asylum seekers sank in the Indian Ocean last night.
HMAS Wollongong responded to a distress call from the boat which was found south-east of Christmas Island.
Defence says the boat initially appeared to be in good condition and it was being escorted back to the island.
The Deputy Chief of Joint Operations, Rear Admiral Allan Du Toit, says the 16 women and children were transferred off the boat before it sank and the other passengers were rescued from the water.
“[They] are now safe with no apparent health issues,” he said.
“Rescue operations like this are always extremely difficult and the fact the rescue took place safely in the dark is a credit to all of those involved.”
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