WA teenagers rescued after writing ‘HELP’ in sand
Three teenagers have been rescued from the Hutt Lagoon / Pink Lake area in Gregory in Western Australia after they spelled out “HELP” in the sand.
At around 3pm yesterday a pilot saw the message and alerted authorities.
Officers from Kalbarri police and Mid West-Gascoyne traffic were deployed to the area to establish the nature of the emergency.
About half an hour later a second report was received, advising a person on board another plane had seen the same distress message. In total, they were stranded for six hours.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority helped rescue efforts through the use of a Perth-based Challenger jet that was in the area.
The jet flew over the area and was able to establish a vehicle was bogged, but did not appear to be damaged.
The GPS coordinates of the stranded vehicle were provided to the police officers heading to the area.
The three teenagers were uninjured and rescued by officers who attended on foot, taken to Lucky Bay, where they were reunited with family and friends.
Key events
WA to seize firearms of domestic violence accused under proposed new laws
People who are formally accused of family violence in Western Australia will be stripped of their firearms under proposed legal changes, AAP reports.
The premier, Roger Cook, made the announcement on Sunday and said the update was part of a wider plan to toughen the state’s firearm laws.
Cook said:
We want to keep women safe. We want to make sure that we have a precautionary approach and that safety is our number one priority.
As a result of that these new laws will require the police to mandatorily seize guns from someone who is subject to a formal complaint in relation to domestic violence.
Now, many people will say these are too tough [but] we believe the principal aim should be to keep people safe.
The announcement comes after a Perth man gunned down his ex-wife’s friend and her daughter in a double murder last week.
Possible Frydenberg return divides Liberal colleagues
A possible Josh Frydenberg revival in Kooyong has divided Liberal colleagues as a draft redistribution that would abolish an inner-Melbourne seat sends preselections into disarray, AAP has reported.
Labor-held Higgins is set to be abolished and a new seat created in Perth.
Former cabinet colleague Karen Andrews has backed the man once viewed as a Liberal prime minister in waiting.
But some rank and file members are furious a man would come over the top of an already preselected woman as the party struggles to achieve gender balance.
Frydenberg “had ample opportunity months ago” if he wanted to run, said Charlotte Mortlock, the founder of Hilma’s Network, which helps Liberal women get preselected.
“The women who have been preselected and campaigning for months are not seat warmers for dudes,” she wrote on social media platform X.
Cait Kelly
Hello everyone – I am here to take you through the rest of the afternoon. Let’s get into it!
And with that I’ll be handing the blog over to Cait Kelly, thanks for reading.
Wet, stormy summer blamed for drop in Australian gold production
Heavy rain has impacted the operations of Australia’s gold mining sector, with cyclones across swathes of the nation blamed for a drop in production, AAP reports.
Production at Australian gold mines fell to 70 tonnes in the first quarter of 2024 compared with 77 tonnes in the December quarter of 2023.
This was due to a series of cyclones moving inland and dumping massive amounts of rain across Australia’s main gold producing regions.
Consultancy Surbiton Associates said almost two dozen mines in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory reported production problems due to rain and flooding.
“Wet weather makes haul roads dangerous and greasy. Wet ore ‘hangs up’ in ore bins, is difficult to crush and sticks to conveyor belts,” director Sandra Close said.
“In this quarter, some open pits were flooded and mining ceased.
“At some underground mines, where the workings are accessed by decline from near the base of an existing open pit. It was impossible to haul ore to the treatment plants.”
Fuel oil supply was disrupted at some mines while others reported power outages due to high rainfall damaging power grids causing electricity supplies to fail.
Operations reporting lower gold output included Tropicana, 330km east of Kalgoorlie, which is down 59,000 ounces, and Tanami in the central NT which is down 46,000 ounces.
Production increased at Cadia in NSW, up 25,000 ounces compared with the previous quarter and Bellevue in WA, where production increased by almost 22,000 ounces.
However, most companies are maintaining production forecasts for 2024 overall, with losses aimed to be made up over the remainder of the year.
Australia’s largest gold producers for the first quarter of 2024 were Newmont’s Boddington, Cadia and Tanami projects, the Northern Star Resources-owned Super Pit and Evolution Mining’s Cowal mine.
WA teenagers rescued after writing ‘HELP’ in sand
Three teenagers have been rescued from the Hutt Lagoon / Pink Lake area in Gregory in Western Australia after they spelled out “HELP” in the sand.
At around 3pm yesterday a pilot saw the message and alerted authorities.
Officers from Kalbarri police and Mid West-Gascoyne traffic were deployed to the area to establish the nature of the emergency.
About half an hour later a second report was received, advising a person on board another plane had seen the same distress message. In total, they were stranded for six hours.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority helped rescue efforts through the use of a Perth-based Challenger jet that was in the area.
The jet flew over the area and was able to establish a vehicle was bogged, but did not appear to be damaged.
The GPS coordinates of the stranded vehicle were provided to the police officers heading to the area.
The three teenagers were uninjured and rescued by officers who attended on foot, taken to Lucky Bay, where they were reunited with family and friends.
Economists expecting more subdued figures in March quarterly accounts
Another lacklustre result is expected when the Australian economy gets its quarterly performance review, AAP reports.
Wednesday’s March quarter national accounts – compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics – includes the gross domestic product gauge and other useful information, such as productivity growth.
The Australian economy expanded by a meagre 0.2% through the final three months of 2023, which took annual growth to 1.5% over the year.
With interest rates still high enough to be slowing the economy and weighing on demand for goods and services, countering price pressures, economists are anticipating another subdued outcome.
Household consumption, which represents around half of all economic activity in Australia, is expected to drag on the headline measure, reflecting the interest-rate pain felt by mortgage holders.
Economists will firm up their forecasts following datasets on Tuesday that feed into the GDP figure, including balance of payments, business indicators and government spending.
Following a run of hotter-than-expected inflation data, the Fair Work Commission’s minimum and award wage decision is likely to be of interest to Reserve Bank watchers.
The industrial umpire, due to hand down its annual wage review on Monday, will be balancing the need to support worker wages eroded by rising living costs without adding to inflationary pressures.
The Reserve Bank’s impression of the wage decision and its implications for interest rates will likely feature when senior central bankers face questions from senators in a hearing on Wednesday.
The deputy governor, Andrew Hauser, is also due to make his first public appearance in the role on Friday at an “Australia’s economic outlook” event in Sydney.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has suggested this week that Australia should resist ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders should they be issued, and a Howard-era law could help him.
You can read more from Daniel Hurst’s analysis below:
Olympic setback for Matildas as Caitlin Foord injures hamstring in China friendly
The Matildas face a potentially huge blow to their bid for Olympic glory after Caitlin Foord suffered a hamstring injury, AAP has reported.
Foord lasted just 15 minutes of play after being brought on as a substitute in the first of their two-game series against China, leaving the Matildas coach, Tony Gustavsson, worried about her availability for the Paris Games.
Gustavsson has yet to rule Foord out of the Monday night friendly at Accor Stadium, saying an update on her fitness would be provided later on Sunday.
Sam Kerr has already been ruled out for Paris due to a knee reconstruction.
Frydenberg reportedly considering future Kooyong run
Josh Frydenberg is reportedly considering contesting Kooyong if the Victorian Liberal party holds another preselection for the Melbourne seat he lost to independent Monique Ryan.
The Liberal party has already preselected a Kooyong candidate for the next election, Amelia Hamer, who has already started campaigning.
On Friday it was announced that the seat of Higgins (currently held by Labor) in Melbourne’s inner-east is set to be abolished at the next federal election, with Kooyong eating up many of its booths in the redistribution.
More to come.
Man arrested after woman found dead at Darwin home
A man has been arrested in Darwin after a woman was found dead at a house in Coconut Grove on Saturday.
Emergency services were called to the home at around 12.30pm yesterday, after receiving reports of an unresponsive woman at the residence.
Police and St John Ambulance attended and the 36-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene.
A 43-year old man presented himself to police and he was arrested. He remains in custody.
Police said in a statement that “the two parties are believed to be known to one another”.
A crime scene has been declared and investigations are ongoing.
