source : the age
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Police have today launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a body that was found on a boat last week.
They say a 51-year-old man was found deceased on a boat moored at Blackwall Reach just after 4pm on Thursday.
A map highlighting areas where CCTV or boat cameras may have captured the moorings in Bicton. Credit: WA Police
Now they’re seeking anyone who might have CCTV footage that captures boats moored on the Swan River, Bicton and Mosman Park, between Point Walter, Chidley Point Reserve, Bicton Quarantine Park and Russel Brown Adventure Park from March 26 to April 24, 2025.
They are also looking for information from anyone who has vision from a boat-mounted camera or dash-camera vision taken in the same areas.
Anyone with any information relating to this incident is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online via www.crimestopperswa.com.au.
Brad Pitt will star in a film adaptation of famed WA novelist Tim Winton’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Riders, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.
“Following a competitive situation, A24 has landed the hot package,” Deadline says.
Conclave director Edward Berger will team with Pitt on the A24 feature with the Reporter also naming Ridley Scott among producers and saying shooting will start in early 2026 in multiple locations across Europe.
Brad Pitt in production on the movie ‘F1’, arriving in cinemas in June.Credit: AP
The haunting 1995 novel of a man searching for his missing wife and child is Winton’s only story set in an international location, written while Winton was living in Europe.
The quest to bring it to the screen has an unlucky history more than two decades long. Three directors have previously been named, with actors involved at various times including Sam Worthington, Ronan Keating, Luke Hemsworth and Richard E. Grant.
This iteration has been in the works since in 2018 it was reported David Kajganich would adapt the novel.
Industry talk over the years was that the novel’s ambiguous ending was a challenge, says our contributor Mark Naglazas, a WA arts journalist who has documented its fortunes over the years.
“The Riders is part of local film industry folklore. It is the movie everyone wanted to be a part of and audiences were desperate to see, but nobody could crack the notoriously oblique ending,” Naglazas says.
“But Brad Pitt is getting a reputation for backing interesting movies, so maybe The Riders will become the next Winton book to hit the big screen.
“Winton adaptations are a wildly mixed bag; the best is The Turning, the worst is Dirt Music and Breath was somewhere in between.”
Star ruck Luke Jackson is firming to return from injury as Fremantle aim to use their St Kilda clash as a springboard into the AFL top eight.
Jackson has put himself in frame to return from a hamstring injury after training strongly on Tuesday, Dockers coach Justin Longmuir says.
The ruckman has not played since Fremantle’s round-four win over the Western Bulldogs.
Luke Jackson.Credit: Getty Images
“He has to get through training, but we’re pretty positive about his progression and pretty positive about the work he’s done,” Longmuir said.
“I felt like he could have played last week. That’s only my feeling, so we’re hopeful.”
The Dockers have moved in and out of the top eight since Jackson last played after inconsistent results against Richmond, Melbourne and Adelaide.
He will be a welcome addition alongside fellow ruck Sean Darcy for Friday’s clash at Marvel Stadium, with Fremantle (4-3) sitting ninth following their most recent 18-point win over the Crows.
Jackson was probably the side’s most in-form player before his injury, Longmuir said:
We probably see Sean as our No.1 ruckman. We’ll give more time to Jacko than maybe what we have in the past though and Sean will have to tidy up his forward craft at times. It probably gives us flexibility to use Jacko in other places as well. It’s always a horses-for-courses mentality with how much time each of them rucks and plays other roles.
AAP
Police are appealing to the public for information after a major breakthrough in an unsolved hit-and-run in Golden Bay in 2020, with a reward of up to $250,000 available.
About 2.45am on November 22 that year, police were alerted to a man lying dead in the northbound lanes of Mandurah Road, just north of the Dampier Drive intersection.
Through enhanced CCTV capability, police have now identified a vehicle of interest: a white Nissan Navara D40 ute with a black decal along the lower part of the passenger side doors, no decals on the driver’s side, a faded right rear taillight and an “aftermarket” bull bar.
Police are seeking a car that looks like this. Credit: WA Police
Investigators believe the driver and any occupants may have vital information.
Major Crash Detective Senior Sergeant Hugh Le Tessier told reporters this morning the victim’s family deserved answers.
He said the victim, whose name was Matthew, had been at a party that evening and was walking home.
He was a father whose children were now growing up without him.
“We’re committed to finding those answers for them,” he said.
“There’s been an extensive investigation to date, there’s a large number of witnesses who have been spoken to.
“It’s really just in the most recent past that our technology in respect of CCTV enhancement has enabled us to identify this particular vehicle.
“We can’t lose sight of the fact that a person lost their life.”
Anyone with any information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or report online via www.crimestopperswa.com.au.
WA Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash has dismissed those as “laughable” the comments from Resources Minister Madeleine King reported in our 10.46am post.
A nuclear power plant in Collie would erode the South West wine region’s global reputation, King had said.
Cash thinks not:
This is another ridiculous scare campaign from a desperate Labor Party that will do anything to distract from their appalling record in government, and lies on delivering a $275 cut to power bills. Countries like France have been using nuclear power for decades with no impact on the reputation of their wine industry. Why is Labor happy to back our AUKUS nuclear submarines but at the same time say absurd things like this about nuclear power? They’ve lied about the cost of our electricity system plan time and again, and have now resorted to this nonsense as well.
Sticking with the Madeleine King press conference, King has downplayed the threat of teal independent Kate Hulett to her colleague Fremantle MP Josh Wilson.
Kate Hulett (right) records a podcast at Spearwood bowling club.Credit: Mark Naglazas
Wilson’s seat has become a tighter contest in recent weeks with The Australian reporting on UComms polling conducted a fortnight ago that his primary vote had shrunk from 44 per cent in 2022 to 33 per cent. The Liberals preferencing Hulett third on their how-to-vote cards is also boosting Hulett’s chances.
Hulett lost her tussle in the state seat of Fremantle against Labor minister Simone McGurk by a slender 424 votes, so close it has now prompted her federal campaign.
In a statement on Tuesday Hulett called Woodside’s North West Shelf extension proposal, currently before federal bureaucrats for approval, a “dumb deal” and while she has not explicitly stated how she would use this project as a bargaining chip she has said it would be high on the priority list in the event of a hung parliament with Labor.
“It’s the biggest gas export facility in the southern hemisphere and now massive multinationals want to extend it for another 50 years. That means it would send more of our gas overseas than any other project, driving up energy prices for ordinary Australians,” she said.
Labor MP Josh Wilson campaigning in Cockburn.Credit: Mark Naglazas
King rubbished suggestions Hulett was within striking distance of Wilson but encouraged voters in the electorate, which spans Fremantle and the City of Cockburn, to support him if they wanted action on climate change and the environment.
King also attacked Hulett’s claims she would use the NWS extension as a bargaining chip and criticised her choice of campaign media manager Jesse Noakes who was recently fined in relation to his role in an attempted protest outside Woodside boss Meg O’Neill’s home in August 2023, which she described as “nefarious”.
She said Labor believed it could form a majority government and independents were “not going to be in any kind of position for a bargaining chip that they make up out of nowhere.”
To politics now, where Resources Minister Madeleine King has just fired several shots at the Coalition’s nuclear power plan for Collie, which she claims will impact the Margaret River wine region two hours away.
Standing alongside Roger Cook and Tangney candidate Sam Lim in Applecross, King claimed a nuclear plant in Collie would erode the reputation of the world-famous wine region.
“There’s a reputation around nuclear power plants, as we all know, and we’ve seen the accidents all around the world … I believe that will affect the reputation of a very clean and a very well loved wine region in our South West,” she said.
King batted away questions about France’s nuclear power stations dotted around the country.
WAtoday’s comparison of reactor sites in France shows many are located either in or near wine regions, including the Blayais nuclear power plant whose four reactors sit smack-bang in the middle of the famous Bordeaux region.
Asked for his thoughts, Cook backed King saying the wine industry and consumers valued a pristine environment for grapes.
“For that reason, I think the idea of bringing energy means such as nuclear power does bring that reputation into risk,” he said.
Labor is putting Cook to work in the federal campaign this week.
He has done two press conferences in two days with federal counterparts and offered some of his strongest support for Anthony Albanese at the press conference today.
When asked about his unwavering support and who needed who more, Cook said: “I don’t know if they need me, but they’ve got me; Albo gets WA, and that’s why he’s got me.”
Hundreds gathered at Swan Districts Football Club this morning to farewell football great Andrew Krakouer, who died of a heart attack in Perth last month aged 42.
Eulogies from family members described him meeting partner Barbara while both were in their mid-teens, the “inseparable” pair going to school together at Clontarf.
The family of Andrew Krakouer gave permission following his death for his image to be shared.Credit: Funeral image
He was a “wonderful father to his four girls,” loving making their lunches and celebrating their sporting achievements.
“We will cherish the precious memories of our beautiful boy,” they said.
“His legacy of cultural reconnection and love remains a guiding light to his family.
“Of all his greatest achievements in life, his greatest one was being a dad to his four daughters.”
The former Collingwood, Richmond and Swan Districts player was the son of Jim and nephew of Phil Krakouer, who paved a path for Indigenous players.
The Noongar man played 102 matches for Richmond from 2001-2007, but his career was interrupted when he was jailed for serious assault in Perth in 2008.
After a season with Swan Districts, playing in the WAFL Grand Final, the Magpies gave Krakouer a second chance, adding him to their list at the end of 2010, playing 35 games.
He retired from football in 2013, with subsequent career moves including a media career, running rehabilitation programs for prison inmates and writing a children’s book (now shortlisted for an Australian Book Industry Award for Social Impact Book of the Year).
The parents of Perth brothers Callum and Jake Robinson, tragically killed in Mexico one year ago yesterday, have today released a statement reflecting on the weight of their grief and acknowledging the movement their sons inspired.
The bodies of Callum, 33, Jake, 30, and their friend Carter Rhoad, 30, were found dumped in a well near their campsite on a surfing trip.
“The ache is constant and the silence in our lives, deafening,” parents Martin and Debra Robinson stated today.
“But even in the depth of our sorrow, we’ve felt love wrap around us. We’ve been held up by family, by friends, and by complete strangers who never knew our boys but still carry their spirit forward. They’ve chosen to live like Jake and Callum did – with wide-open hearts, and an unshakable zest for life. This love has helped us immensely.”
Martin and Debra Robinson.
It’s alleged the trio were targeted for their vehicle, but the situation escalated.
Several people have since been charged over the murders.
Parents Martin and Debra Robinson have set up a foundation to honour their children through philanthropy.
The Callum and Jake Robinson Foundation’s message is to “Live Bigger. Shine Brighter. Love Harder”, and aims to reflect and amplify the way Jake and Callum lived their lives, focusing on community, compassion, sport and care for the environment.
In its first year, it has begun with providing grants for three initial initiatives that align with Callum and Jake’s passions; supporting diabetic athletes, promoting lacrosse across the world and improving coastal ecosystems.
The Robinsons said they had received hundreds messages from strangers across the globe who their sons had inspired.
“Sometimes it’s someone changing their lives and trying something new for the first time. Sometimes it’s a friend choosing to help clean a beach. Sometimes it’s just a parent holding their kids a little tighter,” they said.
“These small, beautiful gestures – that’s their legacy. That’s how our boys keep living.”
For more information or to support the Callum and Jake Robinson Foundation, visit www.cjrfoundation.com.
Perth property buyers could have made a 70 per cent capital gain if they purchased their home five years ago.
The sweet spot to make a maximum gain in recent years was if you bought in 2019, just before the pandemic hit.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said housing prices in Perth had been affected by commodity markets. Perth had a housing boom for about a decade to 2012 in line with the commodity boom, he said.
But a pick-up in iron ore prices combined with interest rate cuts, a building shortage and interstate migration had pushed prices up in Perth recently.
