Renewed calls for shark barrier at Sorrento Beach in Western Australia

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog for this Wednesday, the 23rd of September.

Making headlines today, Western Australia’s peak body for doctors has called on the government to reverse the “ruthless” decision to cut beds from the state’s only inpatient mental health unit for children under 16, warning the system is already operating “beyond capacity”.

It comes after this masthead revealed Perth Children’s Hospital ward 5A, the state’s inpatient mental health facility for children and teenagers under 16, would reopen with 16 beds instead of 20, once its refurbishment was complete.

Meanwhile, a nurse who was working at a West Australian hospital on a geriatric medical ward has been barred from practicing until 2028 after she stole a patient’s credit card to go on an online shopping spree.

And former Docker Lachie Neale is sensationally out of the grand final after the AFL tribunal upheld his one-match ban for striking and gave the veteran Lion a stinging rebuke for the off-the-ball incident.

Stay with us as we bring you the news of the day, as it happens in WA.