WA news LIVE: Teens to face court over Karrinyup stabbing; WA families spending nearly 40% of income on mortgage

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has told Robert Irwin to “lighten up, mate”, after the TV personality threatened to sue the producers of her political cartoon series over an episode satirising his involvement in a Queensland tourism campaign.

On Friday, FC Lawyers, representing Irwin, sent a cease and desist letter to Melbourne-based Stepmates Studios alleging an episode of Hanson’s Please Explain series, uploaded on the Queensland senator’s social media, was defamatory and deceptively used Irwin’s image.

But Hanson, during an interview with Radio 6PR in Perth this morning, has refused to take the video down.

“I’ve never met the young man, but I’d say to Robert, lighten up mate, okay, your father was an icon, he actually was a larrikin, he used to have a laugh,” she said.

“I just think it’s ridiculous, it’s not depicting Robert in a terrible way, whatsoever.”

Hanson claimed she had been given until 5pm today to remove Irwin’s image.

“I’m not backing down from it, and I will see it through to court,” she said.

“I’ve got one of the best lawyers in the country who has acted for me in a number of cases and has said this is not defamatory so I will fight it.

“It’s satirical, have we become so precious that we are actually looking at ourselves all the time without having a joke? Where’s the Australia that I grew up in where you could have a laugh and a joke at yourself?”

Read more here. 

And in politics, Chinese Premier Li Qiang is expected to travel to Perth tonight for the final leg of his four-day trip to Australia, the first visit by a senior Chinese leader in almost two decades.

Li arrived at Parliament House to scores of protesters and supporters a short time ago, where he will attend a lunch with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Albanese has voiced his intention to discuss issues of disagreement between the two nations, from recent military encounters to the detention of Chinese-Australian academic Yang Hengjun.

The Chinese Premier is set to venture west on Monday night before meeting with WA Premier Roger Cook to tour Chinese-controlled miner Tianqi Lithium’s refinery in Kwinana and attend a business roundtable.

On Sunday, Cook said it was “telling” Li had chosen to visit WA over other states.

“He understands Western Australia is the powerhouse of the nation’s economy and he understands that WA exports more to China than any of the other states combined,” he said.

Cook is also expected to use the visit to discuss the addition of more direct flights between Perth and China.

Li began his visit in South Australia on Saturday, where he declared relations between Australia and China were “back on track” and offered to loan two new pandas to Adelaide Zoo.

The Chinese Premier also visited nearby wineries and met with local wine exporters.

The proportion of family income required to pay off a home loan has increased in WA however the state still fared well compared to the rest of the nation.

The latest REIA Housing Affordability Report showed the income required rose 1 per cent over the March quarter and 3.6 per cent over the year to 37.8 per cent, based on a median weekly family income of $2,612 and average monthly loan repayment of $4,277.

REIWA chief executive Cath Hart said rising house prices were having the most impact on affordability.

“A year ago, constant increases in interest rates saw mortgage repayments jump by about 40 per cent a month which impacted affordability at the time,” she said.

“Rates have been stable since November, but house sale price growth has accelerated over the past two quarters, rising 4.2 per cent over the December 2023 quarter and 5.5 per cent over the March quarter. The decline in affordability reflects this.”

Despite affordability improving in NSW it remained the least affordable state or territory in the nation, with homeowners requiring 56.3 per cent of family income to meet loan repayments.

Two teens, 16, will face Perth Children’s Court today, accused of stabbing two other young people near Karrinyup Shopping Centre on Sunday.

WA Police allege two 18-year-olds were stabbed, one in the abdomen, and the other across his wrists and thighs, during a pre-arranged meet-up inside a car around 2.30pm.

The younger teens, local to the area, have each been charged with two counts of grievous bodily harm and one count of aggravated armed robbery.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started:

• Labor’s primary vote has slipped to 28 per cent and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has become preferred prime minister for the first time as consumers battle the cost-of-living crisis, the new Resolve Political Monitor shows.

• Australian authorities have registered and given special tax status to a charity directed by a key figure within the radical Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has urged Muslims to send weapons to Gaza.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will push back on visiting Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s calls to shelve differences between the two nations.
• In business news, mishandled firearms and damaged aircraft are some of the issues occurring at Australian airports due to poor training and understaffing by ground handlers, according to its own staff.
• And overseas, Broome nurse Rebecca Smith is in the red zone in Gaza, dealing with a fresh flood of patients, treating many of them on the floor, in the blood of those who came before them.

Good morning, and welcome to our daily news blog, bringing you all the news you need to know across Western Australia.

First up, foreign buyers have spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars on residential real estate in Western Australia in the first nine months of 2023, with reporter Sarah Brookes analysing a new report which shows China was the most common investor in WA, followed by Hong Kong and Vietnam.

And in a major sport and tourism coup, Perth is set to host some of Australia’s top women’s soccer players in an exclusive, first-of-its-kind event later this year.

After already announcing plans on Sunday to bring Supercars to Perth in 2026, the WA government confirmed the Perth International Football Cup will take place in August and September.

Meanwhile, two Western Australian regions are bracing for floods, with heavy rain forecast for the start of the week and communities warned to stock up on essentials in case they become isolated.

Areas of the Midwest Gascoyne and Pilbara should prepare for flooding, DFES has warned.

Stay with us throughout the day.