WA Brekkie Blog | Wednesday, January 25, 2017

► WA: The National party has raised the possibility of building a fast train between Mandurah to Bunbury, in an effort to provide better public transport in the regions, but they have stopped short of making the idea an election commitment.

The plan, which was first proposed almost a decade ago, had languished on the drawing board after the Public Transport Authority said it was not a priority, even though spending $1 million planning the route. Read more.

► MARGARET RIVER: Five programs have been axed from ABC Radio’s regional schedule, and local listeners have joined the national call to arms to protect the platform.

At a gathering of supporters in Margaret River last week, avid listener Margot Edwards said the cuts to programs would disadvantage swathes of residents across regional Australia. Read more. 

► WA: A new high-tech police plane will help officers end pursuits quickly and safely and be used in land and sea searches for missing people. Read more. 

► TOODYAY: Three Toodyay residents have appeared in court facing aggravated burglary charges after allegedly forcing entry into a caravan and pointing a replica gun at the dweller. Read more. 

Need a national news snapshot first thing – well, we have you covered. 

► The 2017 Australian of the Year Awards will be announced on Wednesday, January 25, in The Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra.

Find out about the 2017 Australian of the Year finalists.

► KURRI KURRI, NSW: A local  man accused of lighting a blaze which threatened scores of his neighbours’ properties on Tuesday has also been grilled over similar blazes which have been sparked within a few hundred metres of his home.

The Weston man, 26, was arrested near the scene of the latest blaze after exhausted firefighters and fed-up police raced to the third inferno to be deliberately-lit during extreme weather conditions in Kurri Kurri bushland in less than a week. Read more. 

► TAS: Seven Tasmanian children in out-of-home care were subject to substantiated sexual, physical or emotional abuse in 2015-16.

The figure was detailed in the Productivity Commission’s comprehensive report on government services, released on Tuesday.

The report also detailed less spending by each notification, investigation and substantiation case by the Liberal government in 2015-16, compared to the previous Labor government, although noted a change in calculating methodology due to reduced overheads and internal restructuring within the department. Read more. 

► KEMPSEY, NSW: Iris Wu has been waiting a long time for the day she will join 11 other Macleay Valley residents to officially become an Australian citizen.

Kempsey Shire Mayor Liz Campbell will conduct the formal ceremony on Australia Day Eve, January 25, at the Slim Dusty Centre in South Kempsey.

Mrs Wu said she took the citizenship test in August 2016, achieving a score of 100, before waiting another three months to find out she would receive her citizenship. Read more. 

► BALLARAT, VIC: A new digital technologies curriculum will begin in most Ballarat schools this year.

It will use computer coding, combined with critical thinking, to help students unravel problems and then design and generate digital solutions.

This will include students being taught how computers work, how they are built and how to create code.

However, 50 per cent of the curriculum can also be taught without using a computer, or via “unplugged learning”. Read more. 

► NARROMINE, NSW: Something struck home for artist Lottie Rae when she read an article about suicide amongst rural men in Australia. 

Miss Rae grew up on a farm in Narromine and she now lives on a property in Gin Gin, she found it shocking how many farmers take their own lives. 

The painter decided to create an artwork representing theses feelings, and when she received an overwhelming response on social media, she auctioned it off to raise money for mental ill health awareness. Read more

Click on the photo for more images from the Australian Open

► TRADE: Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is pressing the possibility of subbing Indonesia or China into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) now President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from the trade deal.

But the Trade Minister Steve Ciobo is stressing Australia's bilateral trade deals and touting the likelihood of the deal going ahead without the United States - the so-called 12 minus one option.

Mr Downer spent most of Tuesday at 11 Downing Street for talks with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond and Treasurer Scott Morrison who is in London and Frankfurt this week for talks. Read more. 

► PENALTY RATES: Labor is preparing to fire a fresh salvo in the political fight over penalty rates, ahead of a long-awaited decision from the Fair Work Commission on whether to cut Sunday penalties.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten will promise in a speech on Wednesday evening that if the commission decides to reduce Sunday overtime - a move that could affect nearly 800,000 people in the retail and hospital industry - Labor will move to change the law to protect workers' take-home pay.

Mr Shorten's promise stops short of the Greens' pledge, during the 2016 election, to put a floor under penalty rates but enshrines in law workers' overall take-home wage. Read more. 

1980 – Mother Teresa is honored with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna

1996 – Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the USA.

1998 – During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.

1999 – A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.

2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins in Egypt, with a series of street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes in Cairo, Alexandria, and throughout other cities in Egypt.

► Bail: Byron Bay murder suspect Sara Connor has claimed she didn't report a vicious fight on Kuta beach to police because she didn't want the officer involved to get into trouble.

Ms Connor and her British DJ boyfriend David Taylor are both facing charges of murder, fatal group assault or assault leading to death after Balinese police officer Wayan Sudarsa's battered corpse was found on Kuta beach on August 17 last year.

Speaking outside her murder trial in the Denpasar District Court on Tuesday, Ms Connor insisted she never knew the police officer was seriously hurt after a fight with her boyfriend.

► London: Britain's highest court has ruled that Parliament – not the government – must fire the starting gun for Brexit.

The decision means both houses of Parliament will have the chance to debate, and potentially even block, the triggering of the 'Article 50' clause in the European Union constitution that starts Britain's withdrawal.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants to trigger Article 50 by the end of March, so negotiations over the terms of Brexit can begin. Read more.

It has taken almost 12 months, but Bendigo’s Zac Sheehan finally has his baggy green cap for representing Australia in last year’s Blind Ashes Series.

Sheehan was part of the Australian team that was beaten 5-2 by England in the Blind Ashes Series early last year, but due to a glitch there were no baggy greens available for the Aussies to wear.

However, the wait has been well worth it for 19-year-old Sheehan, with his prized baggy green recently arriving in the mail. Read more