Sandra Brewer confessed she ‘wasn't aware' of GST deal in secret WhatsApp chat obtained by The West Australian
The West Australian
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Sandra Brewer confessed she 'wasn't aware' of GST deal in secret WhatsApp chat obtained by The West Australian
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Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Do the people of Perth care about rugby league? Here's what we learnt in Origin week
At a guess, 75 per cent of people were in some sort of Origin merchandise. Surely, they were interstate travellers, right? But of the 57,000-strong crowd in attendance, only 13,000 travelled from other states to watch the game. On top of the 44,000 locals in the crowd, another 190,000 watched from their Perth lounge rooms – more than recent round's free-to-air audience for the Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles games. Of course, those figures don't include the number of people watching AFL matches on Kayo, but they do at least make you wonder if West Australian editor Chris Dore was right when he said 'if we had a league readership here, we would be covering it' when asked why his newspaper had buried its Origin coverage next to the escort-services page on the day of the game. This is the same newspaper that six years earlier, before the first Origin game was played in Perth, was championing the cause that the city should have its own NRL team. The Bears will have enough challenges without worrying about that. Rugby league by the numbers in Perth In 2018, the NRL kicked off the NRL season with a double header at Optus Stadium. The fixture attracted a crowd of 38,824 attendees, with 20 per cent out-of-state visitors In 2019 and 2022, the NRL's marquee State of Origin delivered more than $25m direct economic expenditure impact into WA, with over 116,000 visitor nights and nearly 20,000 out-of-state visitors. In 2023, the Dolphins first visit to Perth drew a crowd of over 45,000. In 2024, the Dolphins-Roosters NRL game at HBF Park sold out quickly with the match setting a new attendance record at the venue. In 2025 the recent Sharks-Manly and Rabbitohs-Cowboys double header attracted a crowd of 31,347. The 2025 Perth Origin sold out with more than 57,000 fans, of which 13,000 came from other states. Record ratings for Perth (190k) for game two of this year's Origin series, up from 169,000 in game one. It was the second-biggest consumption of food and beverage at Optus Stadium, surpassed only by the AFL grand final in 2021. Let's face it, the NRL has made things hard for them by insisting they operate from the start on a level playing field and not offering them any salary cap dispensation, as the AFL has done when setting up new franchises. Even in the NRL, expansion team Papua New Guinea will come into the competition in 2028 with the added bonus of being able to offer players a tax-free income. Not since the Melbourne Storm almost three decades ago has a team been asked to convince 30 players to move interstate, away from family and friends. The Dolphins had the luxury of having their own junior nursery and signing a bunch of players who already lived in south-east Queensland. The state of rugby league in Perth There are currently around 5000 registered participants in Western Australia. When the Western Reds were in the competition, participation numbers were in between 15,000-20,000. The NRL aims to double participation in WA in 5 years and reach 30,000 participants in 10 years. In 2025, registrations are currently trending for WA's best year since the days of the Western Reds. 240 schools are currently engaged in rugby league programs in WA with elite rugby league programs in six schools. With the Perth Bears and government support, it is hoped to drive this number to more than 500 schools and establish and elite schoolboy/girl competitions in WA. That means the Bears will have to pay overs for more players, creating an unbalanced roster in a town where they can't just go down to the local ground and find the next best kid. If you are player 19-30 on the roster, or one of the club's development players, you could be making a 10-hour return trip each week to represent the North Sydney Bears in NSW Cup, if the club decides to adopt that development-pathway model. As one rival NRL club representative said during the week: 'I'm glad our players have just done this trip, now they won't sign with the Bears.' Their coach Mal Meninga proved incredibly popular with the locals during his recent trip to the west for Origin II, which is a huge positive. But it must also be remembered that, despite an impeccable record of coaching at representative level for Queensland and Australia, he hasn't coached a club team since 2001. With that will come uncertainty. Loading Similarly, the Bears' chief executive Anthony de Ceglie is a well-connected figure in Perth, which again is a huge positive. But, by his own admission, he has very little rugby league IQ. None of that means the Bears won't – or can't – be a success, but the challenges are real. Time is of the essence and much of this team's success will hinge on its ability to arrive with a bang and not a succession of wooden spoons as it figures itself out.
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
Do the people of Perth care about rugby league? Here's what we learnt in Origin week
At a guess, 75 per cent of people were in some sort of Origin merchandise. Surely, they were interstate travellers, right? But of the 57,000-strong crowd in attendance, only 13,000 travelled from other states to watch the game. On top of the 44,000 locals in the crowd, another 190,000 watched from their Perth lounge rooms – more than recent round's free-to-air audience for the Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles games. Of course, those figures don't include the number of people watching AFL matches on Kayo, but they do at least make you wonder if West Australian editor Chris Dore was right when he said 'if we had a league readership here, we would be covering it' when asked why his newspaper had buried its Origin coverage next to the escort-services page on the day of the game. This is the same newspaper that six years earlier, before the first Origin game was played in Perth, was championing the cause that the city should have its own NRL team. The Bears will have enough challenges without worrying about that. Rugby league by the numbers in Perth In 2018, the NRL kicked off the NRL season with a double header at Optus Stadium. The fixture attracted a crowd of 38,824 attendees, with 20 per cent out-of-state visitors In 2019 and 2022, the NRL's marquee State of Origin delivered more than $25m direct economic expenditure impact into WA, with over 116,000 visitor nights and nearly 20,000 out-of-state visitors. In 2023, the Dolphins first visit to Perth drew a crowd of over 45,000. In 2024, the Dolphins-Roosters NRL game at HBF Park sold out quickly with the match setting a new attendance record at the venue. In 2025 the recent Sharks-Manly and Rabbitohs-Cowboys double header attracted a crowd of 31,347. The 2025 Perth Origin sold out with more than 57,000 fans, of which 13,000 came from other states. Record ratings for Perth (190k) for game two of this year's Origin series, up from 169,000 in game one. It was the second-biggest consumption of food and beverage at Optus Stadium, surpassed only by the AFL grand final in 2021. Let's face it, the NRL has made things hard for them by insisting they operate from the start on a level playing field and not offering them any salary cap dispensation, as the AFL has done when setting up new franchises. Even in the NRL, expansion team Papua New Guinea will come into the competition in 2028 with the added bonus of being able to offer players a tax-free income. Not since the Melbourne Storm almost three decades ago has a team been asked to convince 30 players to move interstate, away from family and friends. The Dolphins had the luxury of having their own junior nursery and signing a bunch of players who already lived in south-east Queensland. The state of rugby league in Perth There are currently around 5000 registered participants in Western Australia. When the Western Reds were in the competition, participation numbers were in between 15,000-20,000. The NRL aims to double participation in WA in 5 years and reach 30,000 participants in 10 years. In 2025, registrations are currently trending for WA's best year since the days of the Western Reds. 240 schools are currently engaged in rugby league programs in WA with elite rugby league programs in six schools. With the Perth Bears and government support, it is hoped to drive this number to more than 500 schools and establish and elite schoolboy/girl competitions in WA. That means the Bears will have to pay overs for more players, creating an unbalanced roster in a town where they can't just go down to the local ground and find the next best kid. If you are player 19-30 on the roster, or one of the club's development players, you could be making a 10-hour return trip each week to represent the North Sydney Bears in NSW Cup, if the club decides to adopt that development-pathway model. As one rival NRL club representative said during the week: 'I'm glad our players have just done this trip, now they won't sign with the Bears.' Their coach Mal Meninga proved incredibly popular with the locals during his recent trip to the west for Origin II, which is a huge positive. But it must also be remembered that, despite an impeccable record of coaching at representative level for Queensland and Australia, he hasn't coached a club team since 2001. With that will come uncertainty. Loading Similarly, the Bears' chief executive Anthony de Ceglie is a well-connected figure in Perth, which again is a huge positive. But, by his own admission, he has very little rugby league IQ. None of that means the Bears won't – or can't – be a success, but the challenges are real. Time is of the essence and much of this team's success will hinge on its ability to arrive with a bang and not a succession of wooden spoons as it figures itself out.
West Australian
3 hours ago
- West Australian
Channel 10's Perth to east coast move ‘tip of the iceberg' warns expert Rob McKnight
Plans to move some off-air roles at Channel 10's Perth newsroom to the east coast are 'the tip of the iceberg' and will ultimately mean less local coverage, leading TV commentator and experienced producer Rob McKnight has warned. Mr McKnight, co-creator of industry news website TV Blackbox, said although viewers may not immediately notice the difference, it would have an effect on local stories. He also suggested further consolidation by the network's foreign owner Paramount was likely, after plans to move editors in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane to Melbourne and Sydney were revealed this week. 'An editor in Sydney or Melbourne is just not going to give a local Perth story the kind of energy they give to a story in their own market,' he said. The West Australian understands that Perth's Channel 10 newsroom was told on Monday that as many as four editor roles would be moved to Sydney and Melbourne by the end of the month. Similar roles in Adelaide and Brisbane have also been affected. It is understood about 10 staff will be offered redeployment to the Eastern States. Channel 10 declined to comment or answer questions, including whether it could commit to having a locally-presented news bulletin. In an email from Paramount's vice president of news Martin White, staff were told of a change to editing workflow to ensure 'greater efficiency' at a challenging time for the media industry. 'No local news gathering, journalism or presentation is impacted by this move in any way,' he said. 'A small number of (operations) roles will be redeployed to Sydney and Melbourne, and those impacted have already been spoken to.' Mr McKnight, a former executive producer of Channel 10's now defunct breakfast panel show, Studio 10, said he thought the changes would be the 'tip of the iceberg' at Channel 10, which recently axed news program The Project. 'I think we are going to see centralisation of Channel 10 continue,' he said. 'You start with editors, then it's graphics, then 'oh we can have our producers in Sydney or Melbourne.' 'You will end up with people in Melbourne or Sydney having a very big say on a story from Perth.' He said there was a big difference in having a local story produced and edited locally. A lack of local knowledge could lead to 'silly mistakes.' It is not the first time Channel 10 has faced questions about its commitment to news in Perth. In 2000 it moved the studio production of the local bulletin to Sydney, before ultimately returning its weekday bulletin to Perth three years later. In September 2020, the Perth bulletin production was again transferred to Sydney, leading to redundancies among local staff. Narelda Jacobs, pictured, started in Perth and moved to Sydney in 2020 to co-host Studio 10 present News from the east coast. Jacobs now presents the national lunchtime and afternoon news bulletins.
