As it happened: WA news on Thursday, August 1

West Coast veteran Jamie Cripps hasn’t given up hope of tasting finals action again before his career is out, but guiding generation next is his number one priority for now.

The rebuilding Eagles will finish in the bottom three for the third straight season - a far cry from their recent glory years which culminated in the 2018 premiership.

Cripps has enjoyed plenty of individual and team success during his 247-game career, but says the past three years have been a challenge.

However, the mass influx of youth at West Coast has at least injected new energy into the club, and Cripps is enjoying his mentor role.

“I just want to help the team as much as I can,” Cripps said ahead of Friday night’s clash with Gold Coast in Perth.

“And if I have to play WAFL next year to help the team out, that’s what I’ll do.”

Meanwhile, Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has paid tribute to the work ethic of Josh Treacy after the star forward re-signed with the Dockers until the end of 2030.

The new four-year extension means Fremantle’s star-studded forward trio of Treacy (2030), Jye Amiss (2029) and Luke Jackson (2029) are all locked away for the long term.

The 21-year-old, whose shot accuracy of 70 per cent this season is the best out of the top 40 goalkickers this year, was happy to secure his long-term future.

“It was clearly a no-brainer with the situation the club is in and the way that I feel it is going to go,” Treacy said.

AAP

WA Police have poured their resources into a small town in WA’s Wheatbelt region, in an appeal to find out what happened to a 50-year-old man who died in a suspected hit-and-run on June 6.

About 6.15pm, police found the body of a local man just outside the Kulin town centre. It is believed he was hit by a car only minutes before he was found.

Detective Sergeant Jade Lay from the Major Crash Investigation Section is one of the officers who have headed to Kulin to appeal for public assistance, and said they would be staying “with significant resources” until Saturday.

“We have come to Kulin today hoping that someone out there knows something about what happened that night,” he said.

“If it is the case, we urge that person to come forward to speak to police today. No matter how insignificant you think it might be, it could help us figure out what happened.

“We would like to speak to anyone that may have seen the man walking on the road, with dashcam of the area, who drove along Corrigin-Kulin Road around 6pm.”

Lay said they were also looking into the possibility the car hit the man “without the drivers’ knowledge” and that having the answers would help the man’s family deal with their grief.

The Public Sector Alliance, comprised of eight WA public sector unions, has today announced a major escalation in efforts to secure fair pay, greater workforce capacity and workplace safety as well as improved attraction and retention outcomes for the state’s workforce.

Addressing media, UnionsWA secretary Owen Whittle said members would walk off the job at 12.30pm on August 21, and take part in a rally at the Cultural Precinct in Northbridge.

“This is about fair pay but also basic issues of dignity and respect for our public sector workforce,” he said.

“The real pay of public sector workers has gone backwards under this government with deliberate policies to suppress public sector wages for most of the government’s time in office.

“The government ... needs to listen and genuinely repair the damaged relationship with its own workforce.”

Community and Public Sector Union WA secretary Rikki Hendon said members had rejected the “pitiful” first offer from the state government and had started industrial action with around 1000 participating in rolling walk-offs for wages.

“They are ready and raring to join members from across the Public Sector Alliance to demonstrate their collective strength and escalate their action for a better deal,” she said.

“After seven consecutive surpluses, it’s time the Cook Government invested in pay and conditions that catch up with the cost of living.”

Premier Roger Cook called for the unions to continue to work with the government “in good faith.”

WA Premier Roger Cook had just announced construction works on a new pharmaceutical compounding centre in Perth’s south have been completed, expanding the state’s ability to send life-saving drugs to regional communities.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Cook said the Baxter Healthcare facility in Canning Vale would be one of the most technologically advanced sites in the country, and would allow the company to increase production of medications including chemotherapy drugs by over 50 per cent.

Baxter Healthcare already employs around 60 people in Western Australia, and the new facility will support the company to increase its local workforce with 20 new jobs in the first three years.

The new centre is also focused on diversifying the local economy, with the state government providing $4 million towards the build from its Investment Attraction Fund.

“This is about making sure that we are not only great miners, great farmers, but that we continue to diversify our economy in areas which creates sustained economic growth but more importantly, WA jobs,” Cook said.

“We want the security of knowing that our kids will have jobs into the future.

“You can also consider the importance of getting chemotherapy drugs out into regional Western Australia within a crucial period of time, and because of its location here, it means that we can deploy those drugs right across our vast state.”

Andrew Forrest has appointed high-profile Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson to the board of $58-billion iron-ore miner Fortescue.

Forrest said he admired and respected Pearson, who he had known for more than 20 years.

“Noel is an innovative thinker and passionate and formidable Australian who will bring enormous benefit and insight to our board,” Forrest said.

Pearson joins eight other directors under board chair Forrest, including UK Olympic runner Sebastian Coe and former CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall.

The appointment comes two weeks after Fortescue announced 700 job losses, mainly from its energy division, and a dramatic scaling back of its plans to produce green hydrogen, a nascent clean fuel Forrest had aggressively promoted.

Shares in Fortescue fell 14 per cent on Tuesday after reports that a major investor was looking to dispose of about $2 billion of stock at a discount.

One of the highest-profile union figures in the state has decided he wants to make a comeback, after stepping down from his position as head of the Australian Nursing Federation WA over a year ago.

Mark Olsen spoke with Gary Adshead on 6PR this morning to explain why he was vying to return to the federation, this time on the board of directors – an unpaid role.

He said he had been reminded of what was important to nurses and midwives across the state during his last paid job working on the organisation’s helpline.

“The thing that I think I bring to the table for the benefit of the members, is what I’ve learned from my failures and my mistakes,” Olsen said.

“Anybody who knows me, knows I say it all the time. I’ve never learned from my successes. It’s always from the failures. That’s where you learn.

“My position at the ANF would be on the council providing advice, direction, supporting the initiatives that Janet (the current head of the ANF) wants to put in place.

“I’m not really interested in any public role.”

To some court news now and Richmond player Marlion Pickett will face trial over allegations he was involved in stealing more than $380,000 in a spate of commercial burglaries across Perth last summer after pleading not guilty on Thursday.

The 32-year-old is facing 12 charges including stealing, criminal damage to a property and aggravated burglary.

Police alleged Pickett and his brother-in-law, along with four other co-accused, targeted businesses in Perth and the northern suburbs of Nollamara, Girrawheen and Beechboro, and the regional town of Beverley, between December 2022 and January 2023, taking money from safes.

On one occasion, $325,000 was allegedly taken from a currency exchange.

After Pickett was charged, prosecutors alleged he was tied to the crimes because his phone “pinged” near one of the burglary locations at the time the offence was being committed.

Read more here.

Perth’s CBD office vacancy rate has increased following an influx of high-end office space entering the market and Perth’s standing as the strongest work-from-the-office culture in Australia.

The Property Council of Australia’s latest Office Market Report released on Thursday shows Perth’s office vacancy rose from 14.7 per cent in January to 15.5 per cent.

More than 40,000 square metres of high-end commercial office space opened up in the Perth CBD in that period with a further 115,000 square metres of high-end commercial office space due to enter the market by mid-2027.

Property Council WA executive director Nicola Brischetto said nationally, the office vacancy rate dropped from 14.8 per cent to 14.6 per cent with Sydney recording the lowest rates at 11.6 per cent.

“This new supply of high-end office space is an encouraging sign for our CBD,” she said.

“We’re seeing new office stock come online in the city at a rate far higher than Perth’s historical average and rivalled only by the last mining boom.

“A majority of that office is on the higher end of the scale, being either Premium or A-grade quality. This will help attract even more workers into the city, boosting the vibrancy of Perth.”