Good morning, WA is set to go to the polls today and, if the polls and pundits are to be believed, there’s only one likely outcome.
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But if that’s not of interest, we have more news from across regional Australia, as well as national news to keep you up-to-date.
►WA: The Liberal Party is preparing for a landslide election loss in Western Australia on Saturday, a result set to spark calls for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to put more distance between the federal party and Pauline Hanson's One Nation.
WA Liberal sources said the latest internal polling showed Premier Colin Barnett's approval ratings had collapsed in recent days and the party was set to lose between 13 and 20 seats. Read on
►WOLLONGONG: The closed-circuit cameras clearly captured the playful, jovial interaction between the drunk men and bar staff at Wollongong Tennis Club.
It was the last Wednesday in June, around 8.30pm, and housemates Oskar Calvi and Christopher Anderson were out on the town with friends.
The cameras show the men smiling, laughing and seemingly affable as the night unfolds.
It gives no hint of the horror that would unfold an hour later on a darkened footpath, leaving one man lucky to be alive and another facing years behind bars. Read on
►BENDIGO: The family of a whistleblower who exposed corruption at Bendigo Health says the release of a report by the state’s anti-corruption watchdog vindicates those who took the brave step of speaking out.
But they’re calling on the Bendigo Health board to ensure it considers the human cost of corruption, when reviewing the report. Read on
► PORT AUGUSTA: An increasingly unreliable supply of gas means SA Premier Jay Weatherill and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull must urgently work together to make solar thermal with storage happen in Port Augusta, according to Repower Port Augusta.
It follows a new report from energy market analysis group Reputex, highlighting battery storage and solar thermal with storage are cheaper options than gas.
►NEWCASTLE: Sheena Harvey vividly remembers the day, more than 20 years ago, that she was told she could not compete in a surf boat carnival because she was a girl. The then 16-year-old was having none of it. Read on
►LAUNCESTON: Scientists have made a brazen discovery in their quest to find a cure for the disease ravaging the state’s Tasmanian devil population.
The Devil Facial Tumour Disease is a transmissible cancer that has reduced Tasmania’s devil population by 80 per cent. Read more
National news
►CANBERRA: A former Canberra public servant had nearly 1300 physiotherapy sessions at a cost to taxpayers of more than $70,000 before the workers' compensation agency called a halt.
The former National Library worker, who had been getting the treatment since the 1990s, has lost a legal bid to force the federal government to continue paying for her regular physio sessions. Read more
►SYDNEY: A bikie associate and gangland execution suspect narrowly avoided a hit on his life only to be brutally murdered in his bed at his Sydney apartment weeks later.
Hells Angel figure Kemel "Blackie" Barakat had recently moved to a secure apartment complex in the inner-west waterfront suburb of Mortlake from the western suburbs.
National weather radar
International news
►LONDON: "The word is kidnapped," Edward Delaney says, of his being sent to Australia as a seven year-old, condemned to a boyhood of horrific abuse.
On Tuesday, he told Britain's inquiry into child sexual abuse that he recently burnt his British passport, in fury at the injustice done to him - and to his parents, who had asked for him to return, but were fobbed off with the lie that he was in a better place.
Mr Delaney, 67, from Melbourne, was born in England to a single mother and lived in an orphanage while his mother saved money for rare visits from London. But the orphanage signed papers to send him to Australia. Read on
►WASHINGTON: Amid accusations that it is over-hyping this week's dump of secrets on the CIA's global cyber arsenal and that it now serves as Moscow's patsy, WikiLeaks attempted to don a white hat on Thursday, offering to share the information with Silicon Valley tech companies so they can patch design and software vulnerabilities exploited by the CIA. Read on
On this day
The faces of Australia: Jason Chatfield, Joe Gordon
Jason Chatfield and Joe Gordon are all too familiar with addiction.
The two men work for non-government organisation Neami National, providing mental health services out of Dubbo Hospital.
According to Jason, about nine in 10 of their clients also battle drug or alcohol addiction.
It’s a struggle the men know all too well, because they weren’t always on the straight and narrow either.
