WA news LIVE: WA man charged over online conversations with a child

WA Health’s director general Dr Shirley Bowen has announced her retirement after four decades in medicine and almost three years as the head of the state’s biggest public sector agency.

Bowen began in the role leading the Department of Health in May 2024, and will officially call time on her career on February 26 next year.

Prior to that, she was chief executive of the North Metropolitan Health Service, chief executive of St John of God Subiaco, chief health officer of the Australian Capital Territory, the executive director of Fremantle Hospital, and was the dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame.

Health Minister Meredith Hammat paid tribute to Bowen’s “outstanding leadership”.

A Cooloongup man is due to face court on Friday after allegedly having sexual conversations online with someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl.

Authorities began investigating the man after receiving a report in July of a user on a messaging platform allegedly engaging in sexualised conversations with the person they believed was a child.

Australian Federal Police executed a search warrant on the man’s home in early October and arrested the 40-year-old.

He was charged with one count of attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child using a carriage service, and faces as much as 20 years in jail of convicted.

Here’s what’s happening elsewhere today:

• Authorities believe at least five people are dead following a shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. This is a breaking story – read more here.

• Labor could be forced to forfeit up to $1.6 billion in budget spending that had been earmarked for aged care to land a compromise deal on its contentious private health insurance changes.

• US President Donald Trump said the Pentagon will no longer live-stream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, after the announcement faced bipartisan criticism and Vice President JD Vance said he wouldn’t watch it.
• A woman who alleges she was raped by Russell Brand has told a court the actor underwent a sudden change in manner as they talked in her hotel room, demanding she take photographs of him before pushing her onto a bed.

• Sports presenter Danika Mason has joined the exodus from the Today show, announcing her departure from the program on Friday morning.

Good morning readers, and welcome to our live news blog for Friday, October 16.

Making headlines today is news from Perth’s east where, fresh from a battle against a $600 million data centre, Hazelmere residents are girding for a second fight as another tech giant sets its sights on their neighborhood.

Five months after GreenSquareDC was forced to withdraw its application for a $600 million data centre near the banks of the Helena River due to public outcry, a Canberra-based developer hopes to have more luck.

Canberra Data Centres (CDC) is looking to build a $337 million four-storey centre at 178 and 196 Bushmead Road around two kilometres from the proposed GreenSquareDC site.