As it happened: WA news on Monday, July 15

Brisbane star Charlie Cameron has copped a three-week suspension for rough conduct over his driving tackle on West Coast’s Liam Duggan in yesterday’s match at Optus Stadium.

Cameron drove Duggan into the ground at the start of the second quarter, causing Duggan to fall back and hit his head.

Duggan appeared dazed and was subbed off for the remainder of the match due to concussion.

The tackle was graded as careless, severe impact and high contact by the match review panel.

Brisbane says it will assess its options over the next 24 hours.

Minister for Jobs and Trade, Stephen Dawson, says he doesn’t believe King Charles’ decision to leave WA off the itinerary of his Australian visit is a ‘snub’ to the west.

The King and Queen will visit Australia this October for the first time since their accession to the throne, Buckingham Palace confirmed this morning.

The visit, the first by a reigning monarch to Australia since Elizabeth II in 2011, will likely take in only Canberra and Sydney before heading to Samoa to join the leaders of 56 Commonwealth nations for the biennial heads of government meeting.

Dawson said he hoped the King, who last visited Perth in 2015, would return to WA soon, denying it was a snub to be left out.

“It’s disappointing that we won’t get a royal visit to Western Australia this year, obviously the King has been unwell, and I believe advice was given that if he wants to do a visit to Australia, it probably should be a truncated one,” he said.

“Of course the King as Prince has spent much time here previously, I’m sure we’ll get a visit from him in the future.

“The Premier did write and did invite the King to Western Australia, but it’s not to be this time.”

Read more here.

Western Australia’s emergency warning system has received an overhaul today, with the Department of Fire and Emergency changing the way it updates residents about cyclones, floods and storms.

Instead of issuing yellow, blue and red alerts for cyclones, the weather warnings will now fall under the same three warning categories as bushfires and heatwaves: advice, watch and act and emergency.

Affected residents can access the latest information on the emergency.wa.gov.au website, and those who fall into emergency zones will receive a text to their mobile phone.

The change brings WA into line with the rest of the country, which is operating on the same model.

Returning to the horrific crash in North Lake on Saturday night which killed one teenager and injured four others.

The driver of the ute, 17, has just appeared in Perth Childrens’ Court in a hospital bedside hearing, with his parents by his side.

He is facing one count of dangerous driving causing death, three counts of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm, and two counts of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm after the vehicle he was driving rolled and collided with another car on Farrington Road.

The male teenagers in the ute, aged 17 or 18, are all friends, with promising South Fremantle football club colts player Nick Campo dying in the crash.

Another friend is fighting for life in hospital, while the driver and two others are in a stable condition. The two occupants of the other vehicle suffered minor injuries.

The driver was granted bail but is not allowed to operate a motor vehicle or contact those involved in the crash, apart from his best friend.

The magistrate overseeing the hearing described the event as tragic, and expressed concern for how the school boys were coping.

Tributes have begun to flow for Campo, a promising young footballer and sportsman who had just celebrated his 18th birthday days earlier.

“In the early hours of this morning our beautiful son Nick passed away after he was involved in tragic car accident, our lives have been ripped apart, 18 years old – a future with so much hope taken away. We are praying others in the car involved will be OK,” his father Daniel Campo wrote on social media.

If you feel like everyone’s getting sick, you might be right, with the latest health data showing a sharp increase in the number of flu cases in WA recently.

According to Virus WAtch, 691 cases of influenza were reported to the Department of Health last week, a jump of 35 per cent.

The peak of the state’s flu season looks likely to hit a little later than previous years, with 500 people in the past week presenting to a hospital emergency department, with 41 people being admitted – a number steadily trending upwards.

The delay means WA is tracking below the typical hospitalisations and deaths caused by flu at this time of year, with 1017 hospitalisations (the five-year average is 1181) and six deaths (the five-year average is 21) to date.

Children aged zero to nine years old were over-represented in the 5269 flu cases recorded so far this year.

Update: Coombe was taken into custody in the Eaton area at 2.40pm today.

WA Police are searching for a man following an incident in which another man was shot in both hands in Collie yesterday morning.

Bunbury detectives believe Joseph Coombe, 34, may be able to assist with an investigation into the firearm incident after another man, aged in his 30s, attended Collie Hospital to be treated for gunshot wounds.

Police claim the pair are known to each other, and that it was a targeted attack.

Coombe is believed to frequent the Australind, Collie and general South West region.

He may be armed and should not be approached by members of the public. Instead, the community is being asked to report any sightings to WA Police immediately on 131 444.

A former WA Catholic priest has been accused of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl in the 1980s.

Father Raymond Hevern, 82, allegedly abused a young girl who attended a mission located in a small town in the Mid West in 1986 and 1987.

The claims came to light as a result of a police investigation into a National Redress Scheme report about abuse against children in state care.

Hevern, who lives in Rossmoyne, has been charged with 14 counts of indecent treatment of a child, threatening to injure or cause detriment to a person, unlawful assault and assault occasioning bodily harm.

He faced Perth Magistrates Court this morning but was not required to enter a plea, and has been granted bail.

The Society of the Catholic Apostolate, in a statement, said Hevern had been immediately stood down from duties after his arrest last week.

If you are a victim of sexual abuse, or if you have information about someone being sexually abused, please contact police on 131 444, or report the information via the Safe2Say online reporting platform.

To tragic news over the weekend now, and one of the teenagers involved in a horrific crash that killed a promising footballer in North Lake on Saturday night continues to fight for his life in hospital.

The 17-year-old was one of five teenagers travelling in a ute along Farrington Road when the vehicle rolled and collided with another car.

South Fremantle football club player Nick Campo, who was sitting in the back of the ute, died.

Three of the other teens remain in Royal Perth Hospital, one in critical condition and two in stable condition.

The driver, 17, is in stable condition and has been charged with dangerous driving causing death, along with a string of other charges.

He is due to face Perth Children’s Court today.