Western Australia News

Location	Time	Temp
Sydney	Thu	21°
Melbourne	Thu	20°
Brisbane	Thu	28°
Perth	Thu	40°
Adelaide	Thu	0°
Hobart	Thu	22°
Canberra	Thu	20°
Darwin	Thu	28°

Commuter trains in Perth

21 July 2015 In: Travel, Perth, Western Australia, General

Perth residents are more satisfied with their train services than any other capital city in Australia. Compared to Adelaide Metro, Queensland Rail, Sydney Trains and Melbourne’s Metro Trains, Transperth scored the highest overall satisfaction ranking for the fourth year running with five stars. Adelaide Metro, Queensland Rail and Sydney’s City Rail each got four stars and Melbourne’s Metro got a three star rating. Perth was the only train service to get five stars in more…

Australia declares war on wild cats

17 July 2015 In: Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, General

The government in Australia has approved a plan for a massive cull of wild cats in a bid to protect scores of endangered native plants and animals. More than two million feral cats will be targeted in an attempt to create new safe havens for native animals and improve the chances of survival of 20 mammal, 20 bird and 30 plant species that are at risk of extinction. Greg Hunt, the Federal environment minister, unveiled…

Australia firefighters aid Canada

13 July 2015 In: New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, General

Fire fighters from Australia have flown to Canada to help tackle more than 400 bush fires burning in three provinces. Fire fighters from Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia are in Canada to support the country’s emergency services. Raging fires in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan cover more than one million hectares and 102 Australian fire fighters and specialists have travelled to help the Canadians. Aussie fire fighters have travelled…

Record temperatures in Perth

10 July 2015 In: Perth, Western Australia, General

The average daytime temperature in Perth this June (21 degrees) was the warmest in over 100 years. The previous warmest June was in 1983 when the average was 20.6 degrees. Sunny skies created a warmer than average June across all capital cities. Around the country warmer than average conditions prevailed with Adelaide (16.16 degrees) and Brisbane (17.05 degrees). Melbourne (11.08 degrees), Hobart (9.14 degrees) and Sydney (18.61 degrees), were all half a degree warmer than…

10% rise in Australia ore exports

30 June 2015 In: Jobs, Western Australia, General

Exports of iron ore from Australia will rise by 10% to 824 million tons in 2016, following a 4.3% increase this year. And production levels are set to increase with the expansion of Australia’s largest iron ore mine, according to Australia’s Department of Industry and Science. Roy Hill, Australia’s largest single iron ore mine, will add 55 million tons of output a year when it starts to operate at full capacity. The mine, in the…

Surfer rides ‘biggest wave’ in Australia

30 June 2015 In: Western Australia, Sport, General

An Australian surfer has ridden an 18-metre wall of water described as “probably the biggest wave ever in Australia”. Justin Holland, a professional surfer, joined dozens of surfers who gathered in the waters off the coast of Margaret River in Western Australia to meet huge waves coming in from the Indian Ocean. A massive low-pressure system over the Ocean created the giant waves that surfers live for. Holland was towed by jet-ski onto the huge…

Perth gets much-needed rainfall

23 June 2015 In: Perth, Western Australia, General

The city of Perth and swathes of Western Australia have received a welcome boost with heavy rain over the weekend. A major weather front has brought much-needed rain to the city and farming regions of southern Western Australia. It is the start of the agricultural growing season and WA’s wheat belt needs the rain. A front developed from the north west and started dumping rain from Saturday evening and over the weekend across much of…

Perth house sales fall 20%

08 June 2015 In: Property, Perth, Western Australia, General

The number of homes sold in Perth over the past week has fallen by 20% compared to the same period last year. New figures from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia show an overall slowdown of the property market across Perth. Sales are down by 17% compared to the same week in 2014 and 32% down on the same period in 2013. For the week ending June 3, there were 434 house, apartment and…

Fremantle says ‘no’ to Aldi

08 June 2015 In: Perth, Western Australia, General

Council officials in Fremantle have said ‘no’ to Aldi’s plans for a new superstore in the city. The German-based discount store applied to build a giant new retail outlet in the city’s Hilton district but Fremantle council has refused the application because it was not considered “sensible urban design”. Fremantle acting mayor Josh Wilson said the council did not approve of Aldi’s designs for the proposed new development and that existing stores and businesses would…

Top housing hotspots in Australia

05 June 2015 In: Property, Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia, Family, General

The fastest-growing market for residential construction in Australia is ACT – South West, with a population growth of 134% and $185 million of new homes approved. Six of the Top 20 housing ‘hotspots’ are in Western Australia, followed by five in Victoria, four in New South Wales and three in the Australian Capital Territory, according to the Housing Industry Association’s latest Population and Residential Building Hotspots report. Darrell Todd, CEO of thinkingaustralia, says: “In March…

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