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Perth’s Bhutanese community braved Wednesday’s wet weather and flocked to HBF Park in droves to see the country’s king on his first Australian visit. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has already visited Canberra and Sydney, however Perth has the biggest Bhutanese community in the southern hemisphere. About 19,000 people registered their interest to see the king at HBF Park and lines snaked around the block before midday.
Demand was so great the Bhutanese embassy added another event to be held today. “We consider him as our living god, and it’s a very special moment for us, it’s a one-time opportunity for Perth,” one man waiting in line at HBF Park told 9News Perth yesterday. In April, WAtoday revealed the Bhutanese community in Perth was one of the fastest-growing in the state , and international student numbers had jumped to the point where students from Bhutan were second only to Indian students in 2024 .
Here’s what’s making news elsewhere this morning. Australia’s birth rate is declining. Credit: SMH More showers today, with a top of 21 degrees.
Good morning, and welcome to our live blog. Making headlines today is news that a Perth psychologist has been struck off after having sex with three of his patients over a 20-year period. On one occasion, Antonio Graneri had sex with a woman in his office while her husband was next door in the waiting room, the State Administrative Tribunal found.
Read Rebecca Peppiatt’s report here. Meanwhile, police allege a violent robbery at a Merriwa tobacco shop that sparked a month-long investigation was faked. In late July, Sam Collins, 21, allegedly entered the Smokers Warehouse on Baltimore Parade and started looking at products before walking behind the counter and pulling out a screwdriver in front of worker Sophia Howard, 22.
The violent robbery was allegedly a charade. Credit: WA Police But police now allege the whole incident was a charade and the couple were in a relationship . And the WA Liberal Party’s candidate for Mandurah James Hall will not contest the seat at the 2025 election after a string of anti-migration Facebook posts he shared between 2017 and 2019 were unearthed.
The West Australian published Hall’s shared posts which included one post with a text image shared in September 2017 which said “‘I’m proud to be white’ I bet no one passes this one because they are scared of be (sic) called a racist.” In a statement released late on Wednesday, Hall said he did not want the posts to become an issue for the Liberal Party . He Ain’t Heavy filmmaker David Vincent Smith.
Credit: Mark Naglazas And Perth film He Ain’t Heavy opens in cinemas across Australia today. Our resident film buff Mark Naglazas talks to writer-director David Vincent Smith about the inspiration behind the tale of drug addiction and rehabilitation – and ponders whether the film could claim the title of best-ever WA movie. Read the article here.
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